Interview with Sen. Angus King
CAMEROTA: Jordan moving quickly to avenge the barbaric murder of its captured fighter pilot, executing two jailed al Qaeda terrorists, but how will the world respond now to ISIS? Let's bring in Angus King. He's an independent senator from Maine. He is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Intelligence Committee. Senator, thanks for being on NEW DAY this morning.</s>SEN. ANGUS KING (I), MAINE: Thank you, Alisyn. Good to join you.</s>CAMEROTA: One of the reasons we wanted to talk to you this morning is we understand that you were with Jordan's King Abdullah shortly after the news broke that ISIS had burned this pilot to death in a locked cage. What did King Abdullah say to you?</s>KING: Well, it was an extraordinary moment. It was just a few hours, it was a meeting of the Armed Services Committee, a closed meeting with the king. And I would say, I don't want to characterize specifically what he said. But I would say he was obviously disturbed and shaken but absolutely resolute. That's what came through to us. That he and his government and his people are going to respond to this in a serious way. That started this morning. And I believe we're going to see a serious response from the nation of Jordan. And from other Muslim nations. This, this could be a tipping point, Alisyn, because these -- these countries have somewhat been standing on the sidelines, and now they've got to step up, because this is a threat to civilization itself and to their countries. And this has to be, the king emphasized this. This has to be a war involving Muslims and Arabs against this outrageous group. It can't be the west. It can't be Americans. It's not going to be effective otherwise. And there's an old poem from the 19th Century, "There comes a moment to every man and nation when it is time to decide." And I think it's time for the Muslim world to decide that this is, this conduct just can't be tolerated.</s>CAMEROTA: Senator, is it true that King Abdullah said that, starting tomorrow, that Jordan would launch more sortie missions against ISIS than ever before?</s>KING: Well, I don't want to -- again, I don't feel comfortable relaying specific things that the king said, but he said there would be a strong response, and we saw it this morning, beginning with the execution of those two prisoners. And I think you're going to see an even greater response. But the emphasis, I think, has to be, this can't just be Jordan. And I was in the Middle East two weeks ago and got the sense in both Saudi Arabia and Qatar that they're getting the idea they can't play this thing on both sides. They can't stand on the sidelines. This is a threat to them, as well as to us. I mean, I watched that video last night. It wasn't -- it wasn't fun or something I wanted to do. But it's just unbelievable. I mean, these people literally are living in the 8th Century. I mean, this is Middle Ages. This is Genghis Khan kind of stuff. And I think they overstepped. Because remember, this guy they burned alive yesterday was a Sunni Muslim, one of their brothers, and it wasn't an American or a British citizen. It was a -- it was a Sunni Muslim. And I think the rest of the Muslim world is going to have to wake up and realize that these people are committing horrible crimes in their name and really perverting the name of the prophet and of Islam.</s>CAMEROTA: Some people this morning have likened this moment to 9/11 for Jordan, that it has that sort of galvanizing feeling to really fight ISIS. If Jordan were to step up its air campaign against ISIS, would that make a difference in defeating them?</s>KING: Well, certainly, it would make a difference, but you -- no war has ever been won is entirely by air power. It's got -- there's got to be follow-on. There's got to be, ultimately, to root these guys out of Mosul and Raqqah and the places in northern Syria, and northern and western Iraq, they're going to be -- there's going to have to be people there on the ground. There are going to have to be troops. And some people say, "Well, they're not going to be Americans, because we don't want to send them." That's part of it. But the reality is, it won't work. If those troops are western, that's exactly what ISIS wants. They want this to be a crusade. They want this to be the west against Islam. And it's got to be -- it's got to come from the Muslim countries. And that's why I think this could be a galvanizing moment. This really could be a tipping point. I don't want to overstate it. We don't know yet. It's going to take days and weeks for this -- for the fallout to be realized. But this could be a tipping point. They may have overplayed their hands here. Particularly by doing such a horrible thing to one of their brothers in faith.</s>CAMEROTA: And Senator, what should the U.S. response be to this moment?</s>KING: Well, one of the specific things we talked yesterday, Senator Joe Manchin asked the king a question, "What can we do?" And apparently, there's been some bureaucratic problems with getting the proper equipment to the Jordanians. And I can assure you that you may see record-time legislation or simply some work between Congress and the administration, to be sure that those problems are worked out. So what -- one of the things we can do is to continue our leadership of the coalition, to continue to expand the coalition, but also to be sure they have the up-to-date equipment that they need. That was the one specific that was talked about, and I think we're going to -- we're going to tackle that directly today.</s>CAMEROTA: OK. Senator Angus King, thank you for joining NEW DAY and giving us all that information.</s>KING: Thank you, Alisyn.</s>CAMEROTA: Let's get over to Michaela.</s>PEREIRA: All right, Alisyn. Ahead, an update on the deadly Metro crash -- Metro-North crash that killed seven people in New York. We're awaiting a live news conference. We're going to bring that news conference to you live when it happens.