(Photo courtesy David Eneboe)
BOSTON (WBZ-AM) -- Putting aside the politics of President Donald Trump's travel ban, will it actually deter terrorists from entering the country? WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Laurie Kirby spoke with Arabic linguist and counterterrorism expert Dave Eneboe, author of the book "It's The Ideology: How To Defeat Islamic Terrorism Once And For All" about the efficacy of the ban.
Eneboe worked as a Voice Intercept Operator in the United States Marines, lived in the Middle East and North Africa for many years. He said he's not sure if the Trump administration has information about specific threats from North Korea, Syria, Iran, Yemen, Libya, Somalia and Venezuela--the seven countries on the ban list--but said that past history shows the ban wouldn't have been effective in the past.
"For instance, on 9/11, we had 19 hijackers that came from Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Egypt--none of those would have been stopped from entering the country, because none of those countries are on the ban," Eneboe said. "The Tsarnaev brothers in 2013 killed three people at the Boston Marathon bombing. The oldest brother was born I think in Dagestan, and the younger one was in Kyrgyzstan. The father was Chechen. None of those countries are included on the ban."
Enebow said he believes that, rather than ban large groups of people, efforts should be made to combat the ideology behind Islamic terror. Listen to the rest of the interview below.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Laurie Kirby (@LaurieWBZ) reports