josh m.: republican presidential candidate ben carson talks about being near the top of a crowded field recent witticism of his -- crowded field, recent criticism of his past, and jeb bush on fighting -- fighting isis, syrian refugees, and what he sees as a failure of foreign policy. good morning.

complex role of foreign policy, and will his lack of experience in that realm matter in the end? we sat down with him in new hampshire to find out. how have you been? where have you been? dr. carson: you name it, i have been there. i' ve been all over the place. unlike some of the other candidates, i don' t just go to the first four states. josh m.: what do you think of the process? there has been a lot of debate, even criticism from some. dr. carson: i like the fact that it is an extended period. josh m.: one of the things people are talking about on the campaign trail, foreign policy, the situate -- situation in syria, the refugees. let' s start with your qualifications.

this area? dr. carson: you know, there is a narrative going around that only politicians can do this. they are the only ones who can solve these problems, but our country was also designed -- actually designed for the citizen statesman, as opposed to the career politician. i always say to the people, why not listen to the actual answers , the actual solutions, not necessarily who is saying it. but let' s see what actually makes sense and what will get us to where we need to go. because i think some of the problems that face us in this country right now are huge issues that threaten to destroy us. we really need somebody who has a history of being able to solve complex problems, rather than somebody who is a foreign-policy i don'

qualifies you. josh m.: how do we solve isis? dr. carson: first of all, we have to recognize it as part of the global jihad movement in that one of their main goals is to destroy us and to destroy our way of life. unless we can articulate that, we are never going to come up with the right strategy. then we have to ask ourselves why have they been successful? the reason they have been successful is because they know how to use propaganda and they tell people that they are going to do something and then they do it. they say, for instance, we are going to establish a caliphate. they go in and they take half of iraq, one third of syria, they begin to set up locations in somalia, nigeria, tunisia. and it appears very successful. not only that, but they have a

social media that is wildly successful, and they do it throughout the world. we need to attack them not only in the physical sense, taking away the grounds that they have captured, but also, we have to fight them psychologically. we need to counter the stuff that they are doing, but we also need to use our people to take down there sites and -- take down their sites and servers, and just start a war in that sense. also, it' s important to get all of our allies involved. i think we will have a much easier chance of doing that now that they have attacked france, in terms of declaring war on them and getting all of our nato allies involved, getting our traditional allies to recognize that they are next on the agenda.

i don' t think it is going to be that hard to get jordan and egypt, saudi arabia, all the nations around the perimeter of the arabian peninsula, to understand that this is a nexus dental threat to them as well, but the main reason that we haven' t seen a lot of enthusiasm from them is because there is no leader -- is an existential threat to them as well, but the main reason that we haven' t seen a lot of enthusiasm from them is because there is no leader. we have a lot of enthusiasm from special ops. you saw what happened in sinjar, when we were able to work with the kurds to get them to shut off supply routes and begin to soft in the target that way. and -- to soften the target that way. and with air support, we were

that city. that is a wonderful model for how to do things. we should capitalize upon that that' s what ails the confidence that we are in this as a leader and for the long haul. i don' t think we are going to have difficulty getting the kind of support we need. josh m.: argue in favor of putting more troops on the ground right now? dr. carson: i am in favor of talking to the dead -- the department of defense and the experts in how you accomplish the goal. first, you have to state specifically what the goal is. the goal is to eradicate this threat, not to contain it. i would find out from them, what ? is it just special ops working with the kurds?

need better training? or do we need more of our actual troops? and based on the opinions that i got from a number of sources of military experts, that would be the determining factor. biggest mass migration since world war ii. a lot of debate about the -- what the u.s. should do, what kind of role we should play in terms of the refugees. what is your position? dr. carson: my position is we should try to protect those refugees. almost half the population of syria is on the border of turkey and syria. i think we should try to provide safe haven for them, including a no-fly zone, including sustenance, water, food, things that they need, but i think we should also be using our expertise and resources to get them resettled throughout that area of the world. i don' t think bringing them

here, without an adequate vetting process makes that much sense. i think it makes more sense if we concentrate on cease-fire in syria and helping to form a coalition government, because it is not clear to me who the good guys are over there. but if we can form some type of coalition government and keep the peace, then you can resettled those people in their own home -- then you can resettle those people in their own home. i think that is much better than mass migration of people to other parts of the world. josh m.: are there people who you think should be allowed in here, certain groups? dr. carson: the only people i think should be allowed to come here are people who really want to come here and who have been adequately vetted. adequately vetting them doesn' t include what the administration

says, we have the best writing, these people are great -- best b vetting, these people are great. no, it needs to be bilateral. josh m.: you seem to take exception to people looking into your past, your history. dr. carson: i don' t have any problem with people looking into my background. what i have a problem with is in tension -- is intentional distortion and lies. josh m.: what have people gone wrong? dr. carson: "carson admits fraud in his story about west point." what a bunch of lies. it, but the damage is done. all you have to do is put that stuff out there and it affects some people. cnn goes back, talks to some people who didn' t even know me

when various things occurred, and they say, no, we didn' t know about that. just that kind of shoddy stuff, which clearly has an agenda. josh m.: what do you think the agenda is? dr. carson: obviously, they are looking for some dirt. i understand they are very frustrated because they can' t find any. they say he' s got to have dirt in his background, some nurse he has had an affair with, something, and they are getting really frustrated. then they go to, well, his campaign put up a map that had the connecticut coastline -- see, he doesn' t know anything about geography. that' level. yesterday i' m talking about, and saying you wouldn' t want to put

you knew there was a rabid dog, even though you love dogs. you would want that rabid dog removed by the humane society. and of course, some of the news media with another objective said carson says all syrians are like rabid dogs. this is what they do. the fortunate thing for me is that a lot of people know that' s what they do and have been warning me about that forever. wouldn' t it be nice if we could reach a point where we had mature media and -- this is the reason the media is the only business protected by our constitution, because they are supposed to be objective and on the side of the people. josh m.: i assume you mean national media, right? dr. carson: of course. josh m.: why do you think you are doing so well? amid the criticism, your numbers continue to stay strong, if not get better. dr. carson: let me put it this

it was thomas jefferson who said we would get to this point in our country where the people didn' t pay close attention to what was going on and the government would grow, infiltrate, and begin to dominate. he said, but just before we turn into another form of government, the people would awaken and realize what was going on and they would rise up and regain control. i believe that' s part of what' s going on right now. josh m.: and when you have others in the field doing well, donald trump -- there seems to be an appetite to listen to people who don' t have the political background. is that something you want to point to and show a contrast? that there are a few of us who have not been in the political arena, not in the traditional political arena, although i must tell you that there are plenty of politics in a big academic medical center, particularly when you are building a division

nowhere to number one. there are a lot of politics involved. i think people over the course of time will be able to contrast the difference between the outsiders, just as they can contrast the difference between the insiders. josh m.: best of luck moving forward. come back to new hampshire anytime. we will be back with fellow

it's called a rigged economy, and this is how it works. most new wealth flows to the top 1%. it's a system held in place by corrupt politics where wall street banks and billionaires buy elections. my campaign is powered by over a million small contributions, people like you who want to fight back. the truth is you can't change a corrupt system by taking its money. i'm bernie sanders. i approve this message.

josh m.: welcome back. when it comes to the fight against radical islam, our next guest calls it the "war of our time. -- time." first, he needs to win the primary. governor jeb bush, good to see you. big news this week in foreign policy. you said you would take some big steps in the war against isis, radical islam. mr. bush: isis has declared war on us, we have not declared war on them. they intend to continue to create real instability and attack europe. i believe they are planning to attack the united states.

we need to aggressively confront them in -- and the democratic president and the front runner believe that it is a diplomatic long-term effort, not war. we have to be leaving with ground troops, mobilizing local folks that have been left behind as we have not provided support. we need to garner the support of the arab world and the support we can do this. josh m.: how many troops are you send them? mr. bush: you don' constraints on the military. you asked them what are the best objectives to achieve the strategy -- the best strategies to achieve the objective, which is the nic -- the annihilation of isis. local forces are prepared to fight. they want to know the united states are going to be in the game, that we are going to

provide a lead, the training, the support. there should be a no-fly zone in syria. there should be safe zones in syria. things to achieve the military objective and politically create don' t create another breeding ground of islamic terrorists that will once again create instability in the region and attack the west. josh m.: madeleine albright was in here a couple weeks ago. this is not saddam hussein we are talking about or muammar gaddafi. these are shadowy figures in the four corners of the globe. where do you start when it comes to fighting isis? mr. bush: you start in iraq and syria where they have 30 to that are organizing and garnering financial support, recruiting people each and every day from the west as well as from the region. s how -- you cut the head

if you don' t do that, you will see continued attacks against europe and the united states. this is a serious undertaking and this president has not led. he has treated it as though it is some law enforcement exercise . he has put constraints on the military. and the net result is a dismal failure here. anybody that disagrees with him and set being a warmonger. he has this petulant attitude instead of having a dialogue. he claims that people who oppose his policies have not created a strategy. we can do this. he knows it. he doesn' t want to leave. -- lead. josh m.: what do people not understand about this group and what motivates them? mr. bush: a lot of people say they are young people, getting caught up. mr. bush: john kerry said something this week that was

you could understand how, with their grievances, they might attack france, but this last attack, you couldn' t understand it. you can' t understand terrorists. you can' t think about them that way. they are organizing to destroy freedom, western civilization. sometimes you have to take them at their word. -- at their word. they want to go back to a fifth century world and their ideology and our ideologies. josh m.: one of the side effects of this, the mass migration taking place. there is a debate going on right now about how many the u.s. should accept and if any what kind of veteran decimating process -- and if any what kind of vetting process there should

mr. bush: given the fact that this refugee situation is so unique, as was the case in paris , you could have embedded terrorists with refugees that are seeking safety. we have to be really cautious, but there are cases where you can clearly make the case of persecuted christians, for example, where they are not going to be islamic terrorists. they are the ones being persecuted, being enslaved. there are cases where i think the united states should act. clearly, this administration, who created the rest crisis by not leading three years ago, by grandiose language of the red line and all these things, now for them to lecture people opposed to their policy, i find it hypocritical beyond belief. they created the crisis through inaction. now they are saying we should take everybody. the best compassion would be for us to destroy the cause of the

-- which is i assad' s barbarity and isis. this is a serious international crisis and our president has not led. josh m.: louisiana governor bobby jindal, former presidential candidate, very upset when he found that refugees from that region were already in his state and he was not notified. do you think that the real possibility exists that the league has already sprung, so to speak, that we have to start looking inward? mr. bush: that' s why the administration needs to press the positive, explain exactly what the situation is. for most refugees, the process takes one year to two years. there should be clarity about this. this is a national security concern. i think congress has the right

to hold the administration to count -- account on this. josh m.: you downsized the campaign a couple weeks ago, put more of an emphasis on new hampshire. how are things going? mr. bush: we didn' t downsize. we reallocated towards the early states, which i enjoy. i' m going to be here a lot more. i love campaigning in new hampshire. we are spending a lot of time in south carolina and iowa. i think it' s going pretty good. josh m.: how do you change the narrative? you need to have a moment, something has to turn as far as momentum. mr. bush: you know new hampshire political history better than anybody else. most people make up their mind, more than half of the voters make up their mind in the last 10 days. we are going to have town hall meetings each and every time i come here, a multitude of them. and the cumulative effect of campaigning hard, showing my

experience is, that i' m the most proven conservative reformer that has gotten the greatest results -- the communities -- the cumulative effect of that puts me in a great position. josh m.: we have talked about the process of little bit before. some believe that it needs to change, like a regional primary or lottery system. why do you think this is the right way? i' m not asking you to blow smoke towards new hampshire or iowa -- mr. bush: the voters of iowa and the voters of new hampshire are the most discerning voters, because they take their position with a lot of responsibility. they take it seriously. i' ve had people come to my townhall meetings 6, 7, 8 times, still trying to figure out who they are going to support, and that doesn' t happen in other places. i think that' s why these states

should be first. after that, maybe you could have regional primaries. i think it should be a tough process, because we are electing a commander in chief, the leader of the free world, someone who has to make tough decisions. it' s going to be a lot tougher being president, with the mess that we have in washington, d.c., right now. i love campaigning here, and i think it' s proper that we maintain the first in the nation primary status for new hampshire. josh m.: is there anything that you think you as a candidate could do better or can improve on? mr. bush: i have enough self-awareness to know i can always improve. i don' t view this -- i don' t have a huge ego. i' m a grinder. when i see things i need to do better, i work hard to improve them. josh m.: good to see you. thanks very much. we will be right back with more.

that are being eliminated in the middle east? who's going to take care of israel and support them - our greatest ally in the middle east? the united states has the capability of doing this, and it's in our economic and national security interest that we do it. i will be that kind of president and i hope you want that kind of president for our country going forward. announcer: right to rise usa is responsible

josh m.: welcome back to "closeup." lawmakers were focusing on the heroine crisis -- the heroion n crisis. they created a focus group that will be focusing on drug courts

with lawmakers back at work and with a singular focus, the governor got session that she wanted. it wasn' t long before accusations surfaced. >> she could have had action and money a lot earlier if she had just accepted the first budget. josh m.: it charge that might have been expected, but with the urgency of the addiction played in new hampshire, finger-pointing was limited. the house passed the bill to the senate. >> the community of manchester has suffered more than any community in the state of new hampshire, any community. josh m.: with house members looking on, the senate wasted little time looking forward. >> all in favor, say aye. >> aye. >> opposed? >> the ayes have it. josh m.: so, now they will be writing initiatives to have ready to go for january. the governor hopes that will include alternative sentencing

gov. ernor: i hope they will consider making a relatively modest investment in drug courts. >> i think the politics needs to stay out of this process. we need to do our work. we need to vet things properly and as quickly as possible. that' s what the task force should be about. josh m.: we will keep our eyes on this one. that' s going to wrap up this edition of "closeup new hampshire." thanks so much for watching. be safe, go patriots. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.

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