Ted Poe: “Earlier this year, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter stunned Congress and the country when he admitted that the…”

“Earlier this year, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter stunned Congress and the country when he admitted that the administration's $500 million program to train and equip so- called moderate Syrian rebels had resulted in the training of 60 individuals. The original goal was to have 5,000 within the first year, but they only had 60. The information gets worse. Today, most of those 60 mercenaries have been killed, captured, or just gone missing. Mr. Speaker, where, oh, where have the fighters gone? Where, oh, where could they be? Have they gone to fight with the enemy--which just leaves us how many? It is four or five, according to General Austin. Four or five fighters for a cost of $500 million, is that the plan for the war in Syria to defeat ISIS? The lack of a plan in Syria has created chaos. Thousands of people have panicked and are running from the Syrian turmoil. The U.S. needs to lead. Expecting five mercenaries to defeat ISIS is disgraceful. The United States needs an aggressive strategy to defeat the enemy of civilization, ISIS. And that is just the way it is. ____________________”