America’s top two military leaders on Tuesday defend President Barack Obama’s strategy to defeat Islamic State militants amid blistering criticism from Republican senators who argue that the administration’s program to train and equip thousands of moderate Syrian rebels is faltering.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter acknowledges publicly for the first time that the program aimed at stopping the momentum of IS has slowed to the point where it has only about 60 participating fighters — a level well beneath that envisioned by US policymakers.
Sen. John McCain, the Armed Services Committee chairman and persistent Obama foreign policy critic, tells Carter: “I got to tell you that after four years, Mr. Secretary, that is not a very impressive number.”
Defense Secretary Ashton Carter appears before the House Armed Services Committee on Capitol Hill, June 17, 2015 in Washington, DC. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images/AFP)
At a committee hearing, Carter said there were 7,000 prospective recruits in the pipeline, but conceded that 60 trainees was not an impressive number.
“That is a small class,” Carter said. “It results in the fact that this is the number that got through a very vigorous vetting and selection process that we have. … We expect that number to improve.”
— AP
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