Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel took fire from skeptical House members over the president’s strategy for dealing with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS or ISIL), even after the House approved a plan to train and equip moderate Syrian rebels to fight the group.
“I find it disturbing that we’re having this hearing after the vote,” Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.) said at a House Armed Services Committee hearing on Thursday.
{mosads}The House on Wednesday voted 273-156 to back Obama’s plan to train and arm vetted members of the moderate Syrian opposition.
“I’m not so sure of it, and I haven’t heard the details,” said Sanchez, who voted against the plan.
Hagel said the U.S. plans to give moderate Syrian rebels “increasingly sophisticated” military assistance as they improve on the battlefield.
The plan envisions training and arming more than 5,000 moderate Syrian rebels with small arms, vehicles and basic equipment to aid with communications, as well as tactical and “more advanced training.”
“As these forces prove their effectiveness on the battlefield, we would be prepared to provide increasingly sophisticated types of assistance to the most trusted commanders and capable forces,” he said.
Lawmakers have also expressed doubt over whether training 5,000 rebels initially over a year would be enough to take on ISIS, whose fighters number more than 30,000.
“For every week we wait, ISIL grows,” said Committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-Calif.).
“The goal is not to achieve numerical parity with ISIL, but to ensure that moderate Syrian forces are superior fighters,” Hagel said, adding that the administration wants to undercut ISIS’s recruitment efforts and to force it into a “three-front battle.”
“We recognize this is difficult. We recognize there is no good option here,” he said. “There will always be a risk in a program like this, but we believe that risk is justified given the threat ISIL poses.”
Hagel also defended the president’s overall military strategy of using airstrikes against ISIS, relying on Iraqi forces and Syrian rebels to take on the group on the ground.
“We strongly believe it offers the best opportunity to degrade and destroy ISIL,” Hagel said.
Still, lawmakers remained skeptical.
“There are so many doubts about this being successful,” said Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-Ind.), who also voted for the plan. “What is the endgame?”
Sanchez also questioned whether the U.S. could build an international coalition against ISIS, adding that in the Iraq War, some countries only had one person in the fight “training dogs, maybe a bomb expert.”
“I hope your plan works,” said Sanchez, who added sarcastically, “because we did such a great job in Iraq.”