Syrian army troops advance on ISIS positions under intense fire during military offensive in Lawzeh. Later the Syrian army blew the hell out of an ISIS command center using a “barrel bomb”, leaving scores of terrorists dead and wounded behind. The Syrians later reported finding NATO ammunition boxes, US made M-16 rifles with sniper scopes and Motorola radios on some of the dead terrorists – signs of ongoing covert US military lethal and non lethal aid filtering to the terrorists.
On September 12, 2014 U.S. Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) released the following statement on President Obama’s remarks this evening on the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Saying basically the agree with the President to destroy ISIS while also criticizing the president?
The oddly worded statement read as follows:
“While we strongly disagree with President Obama that America is safer today than five years ago, his speech tonight got some key things right. He explained to the American people why we must confront ISIS. He described the correct goal – to degrade and ultimately destroy ISIS. He laid out the elements of a comprehensive strategy to achieve this goal, all of which we have long championed. And he explained the need to hit ISIS wherever it is, although the need to do so in Syria is more urgent than the President conveyed. While we are eager to receive additional information on all of the President’s proposals, we believe these actions deserve bipartisan support and can degrade ISIS over time.
“However, the President’s plan will likely be insufficient to destroy ISIS, which is the world’s largest, richest terrorist army. To destroy ISIS, create conditions for enduring security in the Middle East, and protect the American people, additional steps are necessary. They include:
- “U.S. special forces and advisors. ‘No boots on the ground’ sounds odd when 1,100 U.S. troops have been sent back to Iraq. And more will be necessary. Specifically, additional U.S. special forces and advisors are needed to direct precision air strikes, advise foreign partners on the ground, and possibly conduct targeted operations against ISIS leadership.
- “Regional forces in Syria. No force in Syria is capable of re-taking ground from ISIS and holding it. U.S. troops will not play that role. We know that our regional partners have lost significant trust in the Administration. But partners such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan, U.A.E., Egypt, and Turkey have even more at stake in this fight than we do. We hope they would contribute forces to help lead ground combat operations against ISIS in Syria.
- “Assad still must go. Bashar al-Assad is not our partner. His regime has been complicit, directly and indirectly, in the growth of ISIS. We must seek to change the momentum on the battlefield to create conditions for a political transition and an end to the conflict in Syria. This will require taking out Assad’s air power, creating safe zones to protect civilians, and helping the Free Syrian Army to resist both ISIS and the Assad regime.
- “Don’t abandon Iraq again. It is troubling that President Obama is unwilling to admit that his failure to leave a force behind in Iraq, as our military commanders recommended at the time, contributed to the rise of ISIS. He should not make that mistake again. He should maintain a residual presence of U.S. forces in Iraq to ensure that our gains against ISIS are enduring.
“None of the challenges that we now face in Iraq and Syria had to be this dire. The rise of ISIS did not have to happen. We have lost too much time and missed too many opportunities. But we can still defeat our terrorist enemies, protect our people and our partners, and secure our national interests in the Middle East. The President’s plan will help us achieve these vital goals, but only if he remains committed to fully implementing every aspect of that plan. Half measures against ISIS only make it stronger and will not lead to its destruction.”
Source: email communication from Senator McCain’s office
With all due respect to Senator McCain – I disagree with his opinion that we should continue to fund the terrorists in Syria. Recently US backed rebels in Syria killed a catholic priest and slaughtered Christians, including women and children. A cruel and barbaric act! In this respect they are indistinguishable from ISIS.
See special report: “This training and arming of Syrians has occurred for well over a year without congressional authorization”, says Rep. Sherman https://groundreport.com/this-training-and-arming-of-syrians-has-occurred-for-well-over-a-year-without-congressional-authorization-says-rep-sherman/
In addition the only ones battling ISIS inside Syria are the Syrian Army – which has been killing ISIS and other US backed terrorists during the run up to the fall military offensives. See special report: Syrian Army killing terrorists in droves in sweeping offensive operations, specifically targeting ISIS https://groundreport.com/syrian-army-kills-more-terrorists-in-sweeping-offensive-operations-specifically-targeting-isis/
Note:
The Islamic State (IS) (Arabic: الدولة الإسلامية ad-Dawlah l-ʾIslāmiyyah), formerly the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL ) or the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS /ˈaɪsɪs/), is a radical Sunni jihadist group in the Middle East. In its self-proclaimed status as a caliphate, it claims religious authority over all Muslims across the world and aspires to bring most of the Muslim-inhabited regions of the world under its political control beginning with Iraq, Syria and other territories in the Levant region which include Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Cyprus and part of southern Turkey.
ISIS grew significantly under the leadership of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, gaining support in Iraq as a result of alleged economic and political discrimination against Iraqi Sunnis. Then, after entering the Syrian Civil War, it established a large presence in the Syrian governorates of Ar-Raqqah, Idlib, Deir ez-Zor and Aleppo.
ISIL/ISIS was secretly funded in part by the United States which trained many of its fighters in secret camps in Jordan, in an effort to prolong the suffering of the Syrian people. This effort also helped prolong the civil war that savaged that country and caused over 1 half million deaths so far and counting! The war has also uprooted some 6.5 million people from their homes, forced 2.7 million to flee the country, laid waste to cities and towns alike, and unleashed sectarian hatreds that have rippled across the region. And the US played a big role in causing and prolonging that suffering.
See video: Rand Paul: Obama’s plans means siding with Islamicterrorists http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xjc-ToK7AQ
See video: US funding terrorists in Syria http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3wunzGveRM
See video: US funding terrorists organizations in Syria http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbIRGbeipbw
See also: US was responsible for training ISIS in Jordan http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhuo7-U7mOo