Kasich's plan for handling Syria and ISIS

'On the Record' Town Hall: GOP presidential candidate and Ohio governor John Kasich reveals his strategy for combating crisis in Syria and ISIS, saying he doesn't believe in direct US intervention in civil wars

This is a rush transcript from "On the Record," March 9, 2016. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: We're back live in Chicago with our special live, "On the Record"2016 town hall with GOP presidential candidate, Governor John Kasich.

Governor Kasich hoping for a big day this coming Tuesday. Voters in his very important home state of Ohio will cast their ballots. Let's get right back to our questions from the audience for Governor Kasich.

Michael, you have a question for the governor, and are you undecided or decided?

QUESTION: I'm undecided. I'm a registered Republican. And I will be voting next week, but trying to decide whether or not I ought to vote for you.

OHIO GOV. JOHN KASICH, GOP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You've got a great voice, man.

(LAUGHTER)

Check out radio.

VAN SUSTEREN: I was thinking of that, too.

KASICH: Really, it was so good. Yes.

QUESTION: Anyway, the ongoing crises...

(LAUGHTER)

... the ongoing crises in Syria and Iraq pose a serious and demonstrated threat to security both abroad and at home. Would you be ready and willing to land troops on the ground in order to combat and secure those nations? And would you support regime change in Syria as a part of resolution to the problem?

KASICH: OK. Well, first of all, we have to look at this in a couple of ways. I don't believe in the U.S. getting involved in civil wars directly. I would not involve U.S. troops to push Assad out. But I have been calling for a long time some of my friends in Congress to provide the aid to the anti-Assad forces in Syria, which they should have been doing a long time ago, but we dithered. We didn't do anything. OK?

(APPLAUSE)

Now, in regard to ISIS -- in regard to ISIS, we need to reassemble the coalition we had in the first gulf war. And I can remember when the Egyptian ambassador to the U.S. stood in the Rose Garden and announced a coalition of Muslim Arabs. You know, we -- we hear, you know, Muslims. Well, Muslims are Arabs, many of them, and they are over there in, you know in the Middle East.

Obviously, in -- in Egypt and Saudi Arabia and Jordan and the Gulf states. They need to be part of this, along with our European friends, and cripe, we can get some folks in other parts of the world to join us. We need to go in the air and on the ground. And some people say, OK, we just put special forces on the ground. It's going to take more than that.

In the air, on the ground, wipe them out because they're a cult of evil and a cult of death. Once it settles down, come home. And let the regional powers write the map, draw the map the way they want it and settle it down. I don't want to use U.S. forces to try to convert people to our way of life. And I don't want to have our direct involvement in civil wars. It never works out.

And when we do go, it has to be our direct interest, with a plan to get in, take care of business, and a plan to be able to get out. That's how I think you should run foreign policy.