Republican presidential candidates today called for ramping up the military campaign to defeat ISIS in the wake of the attacks in Paris, and railed against the U.S. accepting refugees fleeing conflict in Syria and the war-torn Middle East.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz declared that "we are at war" and called for legislation to strip any Americans who join ISIS of their citizenship as a first step.
"I call on Congress to pass the ex-patriot terrorist act legislation I've introduced that says any American who joins ISIS to wage Jihad against Americans they forfeit their citizenship," Cruz said. "We will not allow Jihadists to come back to America using U.S. passports to murder American men and women."
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio called for bombing attacks on ISIS training camps in an effort that would be led -– and filmed -- by special operations forces.
"I believe we need to subject ISIS to high-profile humiliating defeat, meaning special operations attacks that are filmed basically so we can show the world that these are not invincible people," Rubio said. "It discourages people from joining their cause."
Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson said that it is probably in order to send U.S. troops into the region to accomplish the complete elimination of ISIS through a multi-nation coalition.
"Boots on the ground would probably be important, because throughout that whole Middle East region, we have been calling for a coalition of people who have a vested interest," Carson said. "We have not seen a coalition form, but that's because there has been no leadership."
Carson also doubled down on his opposition to the Obama administration's decision to allow 10,000 additional Syrian refugees into the U.S. in the next fiscal year, arguing that we should instead help resettle them elsewhere.
"We should be compassionate, we should use our resources and our expertise to help them get settled elsewhere," he told reporters. "There is always more that could be done."
Bobby Jindal, who said that it is a "mistake" for the U.S. to accept Syrian refugees, sent a letter to President Obama demanding more information on the refugees who will be allowed in, wanting to know what the background screening will be for each refugee and what degree of monitoring the refugees will receive once they are in the U.S.
Real estate mogul Donald Trump suggested that the carnage in Paris wouldn't have been nearly as bad if the Parisians had had guns.
"When you look at Paris, the toughest gun laws in the world, Paris, nobody had guns but the bad guys," Trump said. "But if they had guns, if our people had guns, if they were allowed to carry, it would have been a much much different situation."
Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina expressed anger at Obama and former Secretary of State and Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton, saying they created circumstances that she argues invited more terrorism, specifically as it relates to the response to the attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.
"Mrs. Clinton, when the United States does not answer a purposeful terrorist attack with a purposeful and powerful response of our own and instead blames a video, then we invite more terrorism and more bloodshed," Fiorina said.
Fiorina also said she is angry that the Obama administration for its decision to accept Syrian refugees into the U.S.
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul also said he would oppose Syrian refugees coming to the U.S. and called on countries in the Middle East to pull their weight in taking in refugees.
"I don't think we need to be admitting large amounts of refugees into the country, I would like to see Saudi Arabia take them, I'd also like to see Iran take them," he said. "The two arsonists in that region throwing gasoline on the fire, Iran, Saudi Arabia, they're not taking any refugees."
Paul also dished out some criticism for rival Sen. Marco Rubio for opposing a measure he introduced a few years back that Paul says would have put greater scrutiny on people entering the U.S.
"Mine was a national security amendment and Marco blocked it," Paul said.
"Two or three years ago I introduced an amendment to the immigration bill that would have provided more scrutiny for people coming into the country, refugees, immigrants, students, they would have had background checks," Paul said. “Rubio, [Democratic Sen. Charles] Schumer and all the authors voted against any conservative amendments and I think that was a mistake not only for the bill but for our national security."
Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum suggested that Obama is "in alternative world" when it comes to understanding the threat posed to radical Islam and prescribed "launching a major offensive against ISIS" to bomb ISIS back into the seventh century.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich called for invoking NATO's "mutual defense" Article 5 Clause and said the president should be convening meetings with our allies to take action, declaring that Western civilization is under attack.