O'Malley sticks to calls for 65,000 Syrian refugees

NEW HAMPTON, Ia. — Martin O'Malley stuck to his call for the United States to accept 65,000 Syrian refugees, even as several Republican governors on Monday announced they'll refuse to allow them in their states after deadly attacks in Paris last week.

"There are women, there are children dying," O'Malley told The Des Moines Register on Monday. "They are fleeing the same sort of carnage that was unleashed on the people of France and the violence that brought down that (Russian) airliner (over Egypt.) I don't think it's too much to ask of us that we do our part here."

The group of at least a dozen governors said that resettling people fleeing from Syria's violent civil war comes with the risk of bringing people into the U.S. who have links to terrorism. But the rise of the Islamic State has created a "moment of crisis," and America can't be willing to use military force without also being a humanitarian leader in the world, O'Malley said.

Branstad urges caution in accepting refugees

O'Malley in September was the first Democratic candidate to call on the Obama administration to accept more refugees fleeing Syria's civil war, which has killed more than 250,000 people, according to USA Today. Former secretary of state and party front-runner Hillary Clinton made a call to increase the number shortly after. President Barack Obama has said the U.S. should take at least 10,000 refugees.

The former Maryland governor and underdog Democratic presidential hopeful said "proper screening" would help alleviate the risk of unknowingly bringing a terrorist onto U.S. soil. His comments came after he spoke about manufacturing jobs, gun violence and other topics at a northeast Iowa meet-and-greet.

O'Malley emphasized Monday a central theme of his foreign policy argument from Saturday's Democratic debate in Des Moines: that U.S. military and intelligence communities failed to predict how factors like climate change would lead to the rise of ISIS. The former governor pointed to a statement Clinton made during the debate about the preparedness of the Iraqi army after U.S. troops left in 2011.

At the debate, Clinton said that Iraqi troops were trained to be able to adequately defend the country. "Unfortunately, Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister, set about decimating (the army)" after U.S. troops left the country, she said. ISIS captured parts of Iraq after the U.S. troop withdrawal.

"Secretary Clinton said we left behind an Iraqi army that was prepared to defend the country," he said, eating an omelette at the Hy-Vee in Waverly. "Well obviously, we didn't. It was abandoned, and we didn't put that back together. It's just a lack of anticipation and a lack of far-sightedness."

A Clinton spokesperson declined to comment on O'Malley's assertion.

On the campaign trail, O'Malley points to experience on homeland security issues that he gained as governor and mayor of Baltimore as a strength he could take to the Oval Office. He told a Wartburg College audience Monday that the U.S. should prepare for the "extreme likelihood" of a terrorist attack happening on American soil in the future.

In his interview with the Register, O'Malley said in the years since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the country has become less urgent in preparing for an attack. The former governor said he'd fight to preserve federal grant programs in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that have given states and cities money toward preparedness efforts.

"Most cities in our country have kind of drifted away from even feeling like there should be an imperative to build up these capacities," he said.

AT THE EVENT

SETTING: O'Malley spoke at a classroom at Wartburg College in Waverly and a community center in New Hampton.

CROWD: Around 90 people in Waverly, 30 people in New Hampton 

REACTION: In New Hampton, a teacher brought a class of high school students to see the presidential candidate. O'Malley took photos with the class and students after his speech and a Q&A session.

WHAT'S NEXT: O'Malley made stops at three other northeast Iowa towns on Monday.