Republican presidential candidate and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush stated, “We should be profiling” and “The formula should be to create safe zones inside of Syria, where refugees don’t have to imperil themselves to cross waters” although he later said, while talking about Christians in Syria, “I think we ought to have some compassion for people that are not part of this fight for sure, and there should be incredible screening” on Monday’s “Fox & Friends” on the Fox News Channel.
Jeb said that as president, he would focus on defeating ISIS and Assad, which requires “a no-fly zone, safe zones. It requires arming directly, the Kurdish forces in Iraq. It means re-engaging with the Sunni tribal leaders, that were successful in fighting with us side by side with a surge. it means a strategy. We don’t have a strategy, right now. This president is incrementally getting us into a quagmire without having a strategy to defeat ISIS. This is a threat to Western civilization, a threat to our own country. we need to be merciless in this effort.”
When asked if he would put troops on the ground, Jeb criticized the lack of strategy, and added, “I would listen to the military commanders and build a strategy to defeat ISIS, not by ourselves, but doing it with our allies in the middle east, and clearly with Europe.”
Jeb further said the lack of strategy along with accepting 10,000 Syrian refugees is “a bad formula. The formula should be to create safe zones inside of Syria, where refugees don’t have to imperil themselves to cross waters, and actually die, as we’ve seen. We should be creating safety in Syria, and that requires all-in. We have to be all in on this as a leader of the world. The president wants to lead from behind, and that is just not leadership at all. We need to lead. we need to create a strategy. We need to bring people along with us and the strategy ultimately is to, with force, defeat ISIS, which I know we can do, and then move on.
When asked if he would accept refugees, Jeb answered, “I think there are people, I’ve met families, Christian families that — whose loved ones have been persecuted, and in some cases killed, that have escaped Syria. I think we ought to have some compassion for people that are not part of this fight for sure, and there should be incredible screening, but the ultimate objective is not to take refugees. It’s to win this in Syria. That’s what the focus ought to be.”
Jeb was also asked if the US should “profile,” he responded, “Yeah. I mean, absolutely. That’s what screening is. We should be profiling, of course, we should. This is Islamic terrorism. the Democrats have no clue about this, or they just refuse to call it what it is. These are Islamic terrorists that are trying to take out our country, and destroy Western civilization, and if you start with that premise, which I think a great majority of Americans believe, then you have a totally different approach on how you deal with it.”
He added, when asked about the refusal to say the phrase “radical Islam,” “this is radical Islamic terrorism, period, over and out. And we should have a strategy to take it out. This president, the same time that he refuses to have a strategy, is releasing Islamic terrorists from Guantanamo. This makes no sense. This is ‘Alice in Wonderland’ logic. And we need to have a forceful leader that convinces the world that this is a grave threat and we can’t negotiate with this threat. We have to win.”
When asked if he would negotiate with Russia and whether there is “a danger in doing that, and dealing the Russians in?” Jeb responded, “I think there is a danger, because part of the reason why we have such chaos in Syria is that the Russians and the Iranians are propping up the brutal Assad regime, that has killed over 200,000 of its own citizens. And look, I think it’s always good to talk to people, but we need to be talking with them from a position of strength, not weakness, and that’s where we are today as it relates to, our role in the Middle East, a position of complete weakness.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett