Let's get this straight. Europe is not responsible for the mayhem in Syria and the resultant chaos. It's the Assad regime and his Iranian backers who are responsible for the crimes against humanity. The Islamic State is a new entrant to the game of barbarianism but its atrocities are minuscule, comparatively. China and Russia also share the responsibility for the crisis. The latter has upped its nefarious agenda in Syria with the latest arms supplies and tactical support.
Let's also get this straight. The Obama administration is also responsible for the Syrian crisis. As a matter of fact, it shares a large chunk of the blame. As Bernard-Henri Lévy aptly put it, President Obama's failure to take action "on that Saturday in August 2013" lost it for the Syrians. The subsequent events further sealed the deal for the continuing misery of the masses. There would have been no refugees on European borders had the U.S. taken action on that day (there still were millions in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan). Syria would have been a much better place today if the world had acted on that day. News flash: IS was non-existent at the time. It emerged later by exploiting the vulnerable Syrians who had no other recourse.
Let's forward to a year later. The nuclear negotiations with Iran omitted the Syrian issue altogether in a bid to not irk the mullahs. Iran has not disavowed the Assad regime and the freeing up of resources could result in greater supplies of arms and mercenaries -- and greater human misery. And the U.S. is getting head over heels to placate the same murderous mullahs.
Europe has long advocated a more pragmatic policy on Syria. France, for one, has called for the removal of the Assad regime, which it rightly says is the root cause of the problem. Germany has opened its gates to hundreds of thousands of refugees even though it was never a party to the conflict. Other European states are also stepping up on the humanitarian front.
As for the U.S., it will accept a mere 10,000 refugees -- over a year. Peanuts, isn't it? Iceland is accepting thousands with a mass campaign asking the government to accept even more. Iceland has a population of only 323,000 and an economy that has only recently shown signs of recovery. Compare that to the 319 million Americans living over a vast area and having the world's largest economy. They could surely do better.
Obama seems to have been fixated on the IS. He apparently overlooks the real elephant in the room. Tackling IS could have been a novel approach had it come on the heels of the elimination of the Assad regime. Everyone knows the regime is going strong and it birthed the IS in the first place to disrupt the rebel movement. Europe hasn't shown the strength to take a leading role on the crisis and is largely kowtowing the "attack the IS" line. The irony is more IS-like factions will emerge even if the U.S. could miraculously eliminate the current one.
This policy has not worked and won't in the future. The floodgates of refugees must have woken up the Europeans to the harsh realities of the crisis. It's the Assad regime that has to be dealt with first. The imposition of a no-fly zone over Syria would be the first step in the right direction. It'll at least stop the regime forces from dropping barrel bombs and turning civilian compounds to rubble. Turkey could become a reliable partner in this cause. The next step could be a well-coordinated offensive to tackle both the IS and the Assad regime.
As for Obama, the least he could do is to accept enough refugees to match the territorial, financial and population might of his country. Iceland didn't perpetuate the Syrian crisis, the U.S. did. Iceland still is accepting more. The Obama administration could learn some lessons from that.