Despite GOP support, Kasich rejects call for ban on Muslims

Ohio Gov. John Kasich in an interview aired Sunday rejected calls for a ban on Muslims in the wake of terror attacks in Brussels and Paris.

{mosads}The GOP presidential candidate was asked on NBC’s “Meet the Press” about polls showing Republican support for the idea.

“I think when they see things, it makes them very concerned and very nervous. And so it’s sort of a knee-jerk, I think,” Kasich said.

“But let’s talk practically here,” he added. “In order for us to have great human intelligence, I want the public to hear this. We are going to have to have intimate communication and coordination with our friends in the Muslim community. There is no question about it.

“I mean, in order to find out about the radicalized friends and neighbors, or people that you may not even know at all, who you observe doing things — this has to be a coordinated effort worldwide.

Kasich also called for a reformed NATO to fight the terror threat.

“Right now, we think of NATO as a military organization. I think it needs to involve itself in policing and in intelligence gathering. Because when we look at Europe right now, we find there’s so many holes, and an inability … to get their act together, to coordinate effectively. I think NATO can be an emerging entity, if reformed and restructured.”

“Look, we’re always going to carry more of the load. When we stop carrying our share of the load, that’s when the world is really in trouble,” he added. “And I think we’ve seen the United States sort of, you know, we haven’t really been the leader.”