Yeah…you know the Obama regime is serious about taking down ISIS when they send in 60 Syrian rebels and leave them unprotected against the Assad regime.   

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) went straight for the jugular in questioning Defense Secretary Ash Carter at a Tuesday Senate hearing on the Obama administration’s strategy against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

McCain criticized President Obama’s comments at the Pentagon on Monday citing recent progress against ISIS as delusional, and he ripped Carter over the Pentagon’s slowness in training Syrian rebels.

He said ISIS overall is gaining territory in Iraq and Syria and that there is “no compelling reason” to believe the administration’s strategy is going to succeed in limiting the group.
McCain disparaged the Pentagon for failing to provide military support to the few Syrian rebels it is training after Carter said the military would decide how to provide support once they are in the field. Via: The Hill

Senator John McCain: And is it true that with these people that you are training and equipping to fight in Syria that they’re only there to fight ISIS and not Bashar Assad? Is that true?

US Defense Secretary Carter: Ah..we’re…uh..yes, we are telling them to…uh…uh…that we  …arming and uh….training them uh…in the first instance, to go after ISIL and not uh..the Assad regime and that is our priority.  

McCain:So, in other words if they are barrel bombed by Bashar Assad, they are not…

Carter: No…I think we have SOME obligation to them once they’re inserted in the field. Again, we don’t expect them to be”

McCain: Is that to defend them against barrel bombing?

Carter: Well…that decision will be made when we introduce fighters into the field.

McCain: That’s a small comfort to those people you’re recruiting right now that that decision will be made later on.

Is that fair to these young men to say:”We are sending you in to fight ISIS only, and by the way, we will decide on the policy whether to defend you if you are barrel bombed?

Carter: They know that we will provide support to them. Exactly what kind of support…

McCain: Does that mean you will defend them against Bashar Assad’s barrel bombing?

McCain’s final question: So you’re recruiting them, but not telling them that you’ll defend them because you haven’t made a decision yet? And yet you want to train them quickly and send them in?

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