Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson believes he could have captured Osama bin Laden quicker than the Bush and Obama administrations with one simple move.

ABC’s “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos asked the retired neurosurgeon, Sunday, what his solution would have been since he opposed the Bush administration’s invasion of Afghanistan.

“Declare that within five to 10 years, we will become petroleum independent,” Carson said. “The moderate Arab states would have been so concerned about that, they would have turned over Osama bin Laden and anybody else you wanted on a silver platter within two weeks.”

Stephanopoulos countered that moderate Arab states had condemned bin Laden long before the 9/11 attacks, as he had been expelled from Saudi Arabia.

“I think they would have been extremely concerned if we had declared — and we were serious about it — that we were going to become petroleum independent, because it would have had a major impact on their finances,” Carson said.

“And I think that probably would have trumped any loyalty that they had to — to people like Osama bin Laden,” he added.

The host again countered by saying moderate Arab governments, including Saudi Arabia, had no loyalty to bin Laden.

“Well, you may not think that they had any loyalty to him, but I believe otherwise,” Carson said, before explaining that he had been talking about the invasion of Iraq more so than Afghanistan when he said he would have supported “aggressive action.”

“I just want to be clear here,” a baffled Stephanopoulos said. “So you’re standing by the statement that, had President Bush simply declared energy independence back after 9/11, that would have caused the moderate Arab governments to turn over Osama bin Laden?”

“I think they, I think they would have been extremely concerned about what the ramifications of that would have been,” Carson replied. “And I believe they would have been considerably more cooperative.”

Watch the interview below.

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Carmine Sabia

Carmine Sabia Jr started his own professional wrestling business at age 18 and went on to become a real estate investor. Currently he is a pundit who covers political news and current events.

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