Jeb Bush: 'We Should Be Profiling' in Efforts to Eliminate Radical Threat

ISIS is a threat to the United States and to western civilization, GOP presidential candidate Jeb Bush said Monday, and this country needs to be "merciless" in its efforts to eradicate the radical terrorists and to update screening procedures, even if that means profiling to eliminate radicals.

"This is a threat to western civilization, not a law enforcement exercise, and we should be focused on keeping ourselves safe, and making sure we do that by taking them out in the region," the former Florida governor told Fox News' "Fox & Friends."

And when asked if that means profiling, Bush replied, "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. 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."

But, Bush complained that President Barack Obama does not have a strategy for fighting ISIS and is "incrementally getting us into a quagmire.'

"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," said Bush.

He also said Obama's call to allow 10,000 Syrian refugees into the United States is a "bad formula," and instead, safe zones should be created inside Syria for the refugees.

"We should be creating safety in Syria, and that requires we be all-in," said Bush. "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."

However, Bush said there should be compassion for people who are not part of the fight, which means there should be "incredible screening," but at the same time, the ultimate objective is not to take in refugees.

During Saturday night's Democratic Party debate, front-runner Hillary Clinton repeatedly refused to say the United States is at war with "radical Islam," and Bush on Monday emphasized that "this is radical Islamic terrorism, period. Over and out, and we should have a strategy to take it out."

Bush also said there is a danger involved in including Russia in the battle, because "the Russians and the Iranians are propping up the brutal Assad regime that has killed over 200,000 of its own citizen."

Further, he said that he'd prefer the United States to speak with those countries from a position of strength, and the United States' role in the Middle East now is "a position of complete weakness."

The former governor also appeared on several other morning talk shows Monday to outline his view on the attack, including on MSNBC, CBS, and CNN, after telling NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday that the United States should "immediately" declare war on ISIS.

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