Trump's Muslim ban proof of US hypocrisy: Analyst

US President Donald Trump has provoked massive anger across the world and drawn widespread criticism from the global public opinion as well as world leaders with his latest executive order that authorizes extreme vetting of immigrants and refugees. Several rights organizations and advocacy groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, have condemned the move as running counter to the US Constitution. Press TV has asked Scott Rickard, a former American intelligence linguist, and Richard Millett, a journalist and political commentator, whether such Islamophobic measures could indeed boost security in the US.

Scott Rickard maintains that Western governments are in fact using such "racist scenarios" as an excuse to evade the pressure of domestic financial woes.

“This is truly a repeat of historical events,” Rickard said, adding that “when the financial systems begin to crash in the West, you see these kinds of [acts] to save your financial environment. The European and the American financial systems are just incredibly in debt. These scenarios paint a need for war and we've had perpetual war against countries that compete with the [US] financial system that's only about 250 years old and is run by the elites.”

The fact that none of the countries, whose nationals – according to the US – were involved in the 9/11 attacks, are included in the list of countries whose citizens are banned from entering the US, reveals   Trump’s duplicity in the face of terrorism, the analyst underlined.

“Saudi Arabia is one of the largest supporters of terrorism around the world. Actually most of the individuals being accused of [perpetrating] the 9/11 events came from Saudi Arabia. What we see here is a complete hypocrisy associated with the individuals that are targeting nations not based upon who is actually perpetrating crimes around the world but actually who is operating in unison against an incredibly illegal financial mafia,” he argued.

However, Richard Millett, the other panelist, argued that such restrictive measures are necessary to ensure the security of American citizens at this particular juncture that they are targeted by extremist groups from around the world.

According to Millet, Trump's primary concern is the safety of American people and although 99.99% of the people who have been banned from the United States are innocent, that tiny 0.01% contains thousands of people who could cause America untold troubles.

“It is concerning but I'm also heartened that there is a legal process and that there are lawyers who can challenge the government completely through the courts and have judges look at this and say if it's wrong, then it will be overturned. Those who are the victims of this, if this has been an error, then they can have recompense. So, that's the whole point of living in democracy. If it's wrong, then it will be overturned by the courts,” he concluded.

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