The Economist begins by valiantly questioning the low numbers of refugees admitted to the United States in recent years (”A Home at Last, But Not for Many,” May 31, 2003), but then it bends over backwards to accept American authorities’ crass disregard of their country’s national anthem. September 11, 2001, is behind it all, or so the argument goes. And yet, the chart that accompanies the article shows a steady decline from a mere one-hundred and forty thousand to the negligible twenty-thousand refugees accepted from 1992 to 2003. In 2001, there were seventy-thousand refugees only. The land of the tight-fisted is only looking for excuses, as it is plain to see. September 11 was but a boon for them.