Carson Is saying he would not have responded militarily after 9/11. His solution to ISIS is to use economic means to fight them.
More than that. Removing energy dependence on the Middle East would mean freedom to make a host of independent moves without being held hostage to what it wants. Right now it might as well have a sword to our throat, that sword called the threat of stopping the oil.
One does not have to hagiographize Carson to realize this.