Congress Fears Restarting US Train-and-Equip Program Could Aid Daesh

Local Editor

The Pentagon is considering a revival of their train-and-equip strategy in Syria. But a number of US lawmakers pointed out that this plan failed once before, and will likely fail again - potentially arming Daesh [the Arabic acronym for the Takfiri "ISIS" group] in the process.

The Obama Administration's early strategy for dealing with Daesh in Syria was to train and equip so-called "moderate rebels." This effort ended in failure after spending some $500 million.

However, despite this embarrassment, the Pentagon is actively considering a revamped version of this strategy.

Meanwhile, many lawmakers are not convinced. Legislators from both parties have expressed serious misgivings about reviving a strategy that has already proven ineffective.

Tim Kaine, Democratic Senator from Virginia, told the Hill expressed "I'm not sure the train-and-assist thing is the right way to go,"

Arizona Senator and Republican Party member John McCain accused the Pentagon of "waffling," while Tennessee Senator Bob Corker, also a Republican, said it was "beyond belief to me" that the Obama administration would consider spending additional resources on what he called an "abject failure."

As others are concerned that the program will help Daesh, Democratic Senator from Connecticut Chris Murphy told the Hill said: "We, with an enormous amount of oversight and lots of US personnel on the ground, still couldn't stop the weapons from getting into the hands of the wrong people."

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team