Because of the "feckless leadership" President Barack Obama has displayed, the Middle East is heading to a dangerous situation in which troops that the United States trained to fight Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will be killed by Russian airstrikes, Sen. John McCain said Wednesday.
"We announced with great fanfare that we have an agreement with the Russians so our aircraft will not conflict with their aircraft," the Arizona Republican told
Fox News' "America's Newsroom" host Bill Hemmer.
"So we'll be watching the Russians bomb and kill young men we trained to fight against Bashar al-Assad. Thank God there won't be a mid-air collision between a Russian and American airplane, but we'll witness the killing of these young men we trained."
McCain said he thinks the administration was delusional about Russia, and as a result, Assad's troops will be able to destroy his regime's opposition, "presenting us with the unacceptable choices [to either] support Bashar al-Assad or ISIS. This is a path to a situation the likes of which we have never seen."
The senator, who heads the Armed Services Committee, also spoke about the hearing set today to discuss the upcoming defense authorization bill, in which Robert Gates, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was to be the sole witness.
Obama has said that he is
considering a veto of the plan, and if that happens, it will do direct damage to the pay, benefits, equipment and more for the military, McCain says.
"This authorizes the military's ability to defend the nation," said McCain. "What the president is doing is putting his priority over the budgetary process, the way we are funding things, over the welfare of the men and women in the military and their ability to defend this nation."
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