“The ones that are in the fight is, we’re talking, four or five”, said Gen. Lloyd Austin, commander of U.S. Central Command.
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The USA military is working on a complete overhaul of its mission to “train and equip” Syrian fighters, multiple defense officials told Fox News, after the embarrassing admission Wednesday that only “four or five” fighters from the program are on the battlefield today.
Asked whether any of these U.S.-trained fighters have joined any terror groups, Ryder said that to the best of his knowledge none of them have. In Iraq, Austin said, “nearly 13,000 Iraqi soldiers have been trained… and more than 3,000 are now undergoing training”.
Christine Wormuth, undersecretary of defense for policy, told senators that the USA was looking at how to speed up the recruiting and screening processes.
The investigation centers on allegations that intelligence analysis of the US fight against ISIS was altered by senior military officials to present a rosier picture of American progress against the terror group. A number of the remaining fighters fled.
A spokeswoman for the Pentagon’s inspector general on Friday said its office had opened an investigation to address whether there was any “falsification, distortion, delay, suppression, or improper modification of intelligence information”. But the overhaul underscores the conclusion inside the administration that the program as it now exists “is a big mess” and must be changed, one official told CNN. Within days, they had been almost completely wiped out after being attacked by al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front forces, who captured, killed, or scattered most of the U.S.-backed forces.
John McCain, the Republican Arizona Senator and former presidential candidate who chairs the committee, branded the Obama administration’s strategy against IS a “debacle”.
Sen. Kaine noted that the Pentagon was not alone to blame as Congress has stopped short of authorizing the war-or making efforts to stop it. Kaine said the senators would acting more like editorial writers than legislators.
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.
Col. Pat Ryder, a spokesman for Central Command, said that in addition to the nine fighters now active in Syria, there are 11 NSF fighters who are not yet in Syria. The USA had originally aimed to have a force of 5,400 by December, to take on Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) in Iraq and Syria. The scandal eruped following a Daily Beast report, that said more 50 USA intelligence analysts had complained of intelligence manipulation.
“Based upon the findings, you can be assured that I will take appropriate actions”, he said.
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“We have allowed this… atrocity to go on too long”, King said.
