Clinton on Brussels Attacks: US Has to 'Intensify and Broaden' Strategy Against ISIS

ByVERONICA STRACQUALURSI ABCNews logo
Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Hillary Clinton pushed back against Donald Trump's calls for increased border control following the attack in Brussels this morning, and argued for a broader strategy in fighting ISIS.

Trump said in an interview on "Good Morning America" this morning that if he were president he'd use "maximum, maximum interrogation technique" and "waterboarding" on suspected Paris attacker terrorist Salah Abdeslamif he were in U.S. custody.

"Our best and bravest intel and military leaders will tell you torture's not effective," Clinton said in an interview on "Good Morning America." "It puts soldiers and increasingly our own civilians in danger. I do believe we have to give our law enforcement and intelligence professionals all the tools they need to do the job to keep Americans safe. But I don't think they need to resort to torture."

According to Clinton, torture would be an "open recruitment poster for more terrorists."

Trump also said on "GMA" that the U.S. should "strengthen up our borders" and be "very careful [about] who we allow into our country."

Trump has previously called for the U.S. to stop allowing Muslims to enter the country and speculated today that "a lot of people in our country right now probably and definitely have the same feelings and the same feeling of hate as the people in Brussels."

The Democratic presidential candidate pushed back against Trump, arguing that "closing our borders to all people of a certain religion is not either consistent with those or isn't smart to shut down our system of commerce and the free movement of people and goods."

"We just have to be smarter about how we vet people, the kind of security we require," Clinton said.

Clinton explained that the U.S. has to "intensify and broaden our strategy" in America's fight against ISIS.

"This is an horrific attack right in the heart of Europe. And it shows why we need to be in solidarity with our European allies and why NATO is indispensable in our efforts to protect our country and our friends," Clinton said.

"But this is going to require a real upping of our security cooperation, not only in our own country among all levels of authorities but also with Europeans," she noted. "And there has to be some honest reckoning about what works and what doesn't work."

Related Topics