Dick Cheney: Notion of ‘no more Muslims’ ‘goes against everything we stand for’

Former Vice President Dick Cheney said the notion of “no more Muslims” being allowed into the United States - which was floated Monday by Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump as a temporary proposal - goes against everything America stands for.

“Well, I think this whole notion that somehow we can just say no more Muslims, just ban a whole religion, goes against everything we stand for and believe in. I mean, religious freedom has been a very important part of our history and where we came from,” Mr. Cheney said Monday on radio host Hugh Hewitt’s show.

Mr. Cheney said the refugee problem is serious, that it’s crucial to set up a vetting process, and that what’s going on in the Middle East is the result of a “U.S. vacuum.”

“I’ve heard proposals that I think make sense that we ought to establish safety zones, if you will, in the northern part of Syria where you’ve got them secured, you’ve got sufficient forces, hopefully of locals that would be there to protect the area, but that’s where people who are fleeing the terrible tragedy that’s going on inside the caliphate, a place where they could reside,” Mr. Cheney said. “But it also takes the pressure, then, off of the refugee flow, the move to Europe of thousands of refugees and the move here to the United States. I think that makes a lot more sense than what’s happening now.”