The head of the U.S. military’s Central Command on Wednesday told a Senate hearing on the conflict against Islamic State that he never asked for intelligence reports to be skewed to present a more positive view of military operations in Iraq and Syria. He said the U.S. has trained just 4 or 5 moderate Syrian rebel fighters and conceded that the Islamic State controls more ground now vs. early ’14.
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Gen. Lloyd Austin, commander of the U.S. Central Command, addressed the state of the so-called “train and equip” mission in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Testifying alongside Austin was Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Christine Wormuth, who said that there are currently only 100-120 fighters undergoing training for a future deployment.
The committee’s chairman, Republican Sen.
Inside of Syria, the U.N. says another 7.6 million people are displaced, while appeals remain vastly underfunded for billions of dollars in aid this year to help all those affected by the fighting.
Russia, Mr. Assad’s principal diplomatic and military backer – along with Iran – has said its new Syrian deployments are designed to assist the fight against the Islamic State, not to further aid Mr. Assad.
Though US President Barack Obama has previously pledged there would be no “boots on the ground” in Syria, US forces have carried out a number of targeted operations in the country.
“It’s not that they changed what went into the products- they took out things that didn’t fit the narrative”, the former official said.
“The investigation will address whether there was any falsification, distortion, delay, suppression or improper modification of intelligence information”, Serchak told The New York Times on Tuesday, adding that authorities will examine any “personal accountability for any misconduct or failure to follow established processes”.
“Progress is being made”, Austin told the Senators, who appeared shocked and angry with the Pentagon’s status report.
Gen Austin also promised “appropriate actions” if an investigation found than senior defence officials doctored intelligence to downplay IS and al-Qaeda strength in Syria.
The general acknowledged the US military is now conducting a broad review of the programme.
“They are trying to please their Gulf Arab allies and they are trying to gain their support for the Iran nuclear deal”.
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The backing, which reportedly includes the deployment of T-90 tanks and other heavy weapons, and the expansion of an airbase near Syria’s coastal city of Latakia, marks an expansion of Russian influence in the region not seen in 40 years, said Sen. “The program is much smaller than we hoped”, Wormuth said. It has taken months to identify and screen Syrian rebels, and many who are willing to fight are under 18 or have medical issues.
