General Austin also said the USA would not reach its goal of training 5,000 Syrian fighters in the near future. Ayotte said, “that’s a joke”. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., said the program’s collapse could have been predicted. Another Republican senator, Jeff Sessions, said: “We have to acknowledge this is a total failure”.
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“I wish it weren’t so, but that’s the fact”.
In July, an Al-Qaeda affiliate attacked an initial graduating group of 54 troops – and the Pentagon has not said what happened to them all.
In his first public remarks about the allegations, Gen. Lloyd Austin, commander of U.S. Central Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday that he welcomed the investigation but could not comment directly until the review was over. “We’re talking four or five”. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.
The four or five remaining U.S.-trained rebels in Syria won’t make a lick of difference to those outcomes, and neither will the hundred or so reinforcements who might be coming up behind them.
Austin’s admission came as defence officials scrambled separately to respond to allegations that they skewed intelligence assessments to exaggerate the progress made against ISIL. “In recent months, Iraq’s security forces have experienced some setbacks and this is to be expected in a fight as complex as this one”, said Austin.
Wormuth said more than 100 additional fighters were in the “pipeline”.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump drew fire from Democrats and some Republicans on Friday after declining to rebuke a questioner at a town hall event who insulted Muslims and wrongly said President Barack… The “majority” of that group have either completed the US training or are nearing completion and will return to Syria “in the near future”.
“Our partners, not us, are in the lead”.
Austin also argued that the train-and-equip program was less important now than when it was conceived a year ago.
Austin heads the USA military’s Central Command, better known as CENTCOM, which is overseeing efforts against the IS group.
The investigation into alleged altered intelligence was first reported by The New York Times, which said intelligence analysts have handed over documents to investigators. One fighter is likely to have been killed in action. Angus King whether he ever ordered or even hinted to intelligence officers that they “sweeten” their reports to present a more positive view of the USA fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Under withering questioning from Mr. McCain, Gen. Austin repeated that he would not recommend establishing such a safe zone “at this time”. “I don’t see the force available to be able to protect them now “, he told McCain. “Never”, a flabbergasted Senator Sen.
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“We’ve allowed this atrocity to go on too long, and it’s impacting us; it’s impacting the rest of Europe“, Mr. King said of the tens of thousands of Syrian and other Middle East refugees pouring into Europe.
