Arizona Sen. John McCain calls it a "total embarrassment" that fewer than a half-dozen of the Syrian recruits trained to fight the Islamic State (ISIS) are still part of the battle.
Congressional testimony last week revealed that only four or five of the 54 original recruits remain in the fight. The Syrian rebels were supposed to be a force that would fight against ISIS to avoid American boots on the ground.
With $500 million allocated to train the rebels, that amounts to about $9 million per recruit, McCain told Fox News Channel's
"On the Record with Greta Van Susteren" on Thursday.
One of the problems, McCain said, is that most of the fighters want to go to battle against Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces, not ISIS.
"Bashar Assad is the one that has killed 230,000 of their countrymen and driven millions of them into exile," he said. "It's this whole thing about some kind of relationship with Iran. It's crazy."
Russia is now moving into Syria with planes, tanks and ammunition, McCain said. "And they are
trying to have some kind of relationship with the United States. The country that's dismembered Ukraine and the country that has helped Bashar Assad stay in power with 230,000 dead? I mean, this is the most bizarre period I have seen in my lifetime."
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