ANTALYA, Turkey (AP) — President Barack Obama is sending a message to critics he says “pop off” with their opinions about the U.S. campaign against the Islamic State.

Obama spoke at a news conference Monday in Antalya, Turkey and said his critics should present a specific plan.

And if his critics think their advisers are smarter than Obama’s, the president says, “I want to meet them.”  Watch the President’s news conference here.

Obama says his sole interest is in keeping the American people safe. He says he’s not interested in doing what works politically or will make him or America look tough.

Some Republican presidential candidates have called on Obama to send U.S. ground troops into Syria. One of them, Ben Carson, recently said he had information on China’s involvement in Syria.

Obama officials said they had no evidence of that. Carson expressed surprise that “my sources are better than theirs.”

Obama is rejecting the notion that the United States has underestimated the ability of the Islamic State group in the wake of the deadly terror attacks in Paris.

Obama says the danger of the group is the reason the U.S. is operating in Iraq and Syria, and why it has mobilized 65 countries to go after IS.

Obama says one of the challenges of terrorism is to understand that a handful of people who don’t mind dying can kill a lot of people.

The president says reducing the territory controlled by the group in Iraq and Syria will reduce the flow of fighters and lessen the threat it poses. He says disrupting the threat requires constant vigilance and communication.