If all the American-trained Syrian fighters still in combat fighting ISIS wanted to form a basketball team, they might not have enough players.
Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee Wednesday, General Lloyd Austin seemed embarrassed as he told the committee that only four or five U.S.-trained Syrian fighters remain on the battlefield. Given the original goal of 5,000 fighters by the end of the year, and Pentagon's admission that only 54 graduated (and only for or five remain), the program will be thousands of fighters short of its objective on New Year's Day.
As CBS News reported
The first group of 54 U.S.-trained Syrian fighters was sent into Syria in late July. But a Syrian affiliate of al Qaeda attacked the group, killing several of the fighters and taking others hostage. A number of the remaining fighters fled.
Officially called the New Syrian Force, the contingent was trained by the U.S. military at a base in Turkey and sent across the border into Northern Syria, CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reported. But instead of fighting ISIS, they unexpectedly came under attack by al Nusra, a different radical Islamic group.
The New Syrian Force called for American air strikes, and the al Nusra attack was repulsed, Martin reported. Only one member of the New Syrian Force was killed while the enemy lost an estimated 30 fighters.
But what appeared to be a victory turned into a defeat when the rest of the New Syrian Force scattered, Martin reported. Some were captured by al Nusra. Some made it back to Turkey. Others were simply missing.
After an opening statement where the General used the word "progress" at least a dozen times while providing a situation report showing that there was actually no progress in the half-billion dollar program to train Syrian forces to defeat ISIL, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) lit into the General who appeared to be giving the answers he was ordered to give, rather those he wanted to give (see video below).
Senator McCain: I’ve been a member of this committee for nearly 30 years and I never heard testimony like this, never. One week ago, chairman Dempsey said that the fight against ISIL is practically stalemated with no gains on either side so you and the outgoing joint chiefs of staffs have a different view of what the situation is. With all this progress that you're citing -- and how long do you think it's going to take for us to defeat ISIL and to restore stability in Iraq and Syria?
General Austin: if I may speak to the chairman's comments. We did talk about this issue. When I went back and took a look at what he said, he also said, ISIL's future is increasingly dim as more nations join the anti-ISIL effort. Although it is practically stalemated with no dramatic gains on either side, ISIL will move at the speed of its governance, not at the speed of its military capability. And I agree with the chairman, sir, on the issue of there haven't been any dramatic gains on either side.
Senator McCain: Dramatic? That’s different than tactically stalemated, General. That’s what Chairman Dempsey and Chairman Dunford said. So there's clearly a disconnect between your view and that of our outgoing and incoming chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Really in your view, everything should remain as it is.
Things went downhill from there. The bottom line is that, as many suspected, the Obama plan against ISIL in Syria is failing - and something must be done before it passes the point of no return.