Obama and Argentinian President Mauricio Macri at the presidential palace in Buenos Aires Wednesday.
Nicholas Kamm / AFP / Getty Images
President Obama shot down solutions for dealing with ISIS that were proposed by the GOP candidates in the wake of the terror attacks in Brussels – including Sen. Ted Cruz's plan to "carpet bomb [ISIS] into oblivion."
"When I hear someone say we should carpet bomb Iraq or Syria," Obama said Wednesday, speaking at a joint press conference with Argentinian President Maurico Macri.
"Not only is that inhumane, not only is that contrary to our values, but it would also be an extraordinary mechanism for ISIL to recruit more people willing to die, to explode a bomb in an airport or in a metro station," Obama continued, standing in the gilded hall of the Casa Rosada presidential palace in Buenos Aires. "That's not a smart strategy."
The U.S. President – who was in the midst of a political tour of Latin America when multiple terror attacks in Brussels killed at least 31 people on Tuesday – went on to address other statements made by GOP candidates about ISIS and Muslim Americans.
"One of the great strengths in the U.S., and part of the reasons we have not seen more attacks is we have an extraordinarily successful, patriotic, integrated Muslim-American community," Obama said.
"So any approach that would single them out or target them for discrimination is
not only wrong and un-American," the President continued, "but it also would be counterproductive because it would reduce the strength, the antibodies we have to resist terrorism."
Next Obama addressed statements Cruz made in response to the attacks in Brussels, suggesting that law enforcement should "patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods in the U.S."
"I just left a country that engages in that kind of neighborhood surveillance," Obama said, referring to his historic trip to Cuba, and added that it was that very country that Cruz's father "escaped for America" from.
"The notion that we would start down that slippery slope makes absolutely no sense. It's not who we are and it would not help us defeat ISIL."
LINK: Live Updates On The Brussels Attacks
LINK: Obama Meets Cuban President Raúl Castro During Historic Visit
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