No one goes before John McCain’s Senate Armed Services Committee expecting smooth sailing. But the reception that Gen. Lloyd Austin, head of U.S. Central Command, received on Wednesday was rougher than most.
After a protracted battle over the Iran nuclear deal, Congress is now turning its attention back to the battle against the Islamic State and the Obama administration’s strategy for Syria, a strategy that’s under heavy fire. Austin had to answer for others’ comments that the battle against ISIS had reached a “stalemate,” accusations that the U.S. program to train moderate Syrian rebels had failed and that the refugee crisis hitting Europe is the fault of an administration that took its eye off the ball.
