Pentagon "Cooked" Intelligence to Exaggerate Anti-ISIL Coalition Success: US Lawmakers

Members of the Senate Armed Services Committee were astonished to learn a half-billion-dollar program to train Syrian militants had gotten off to a disastrous start, and said it was time to implement "safe zones" over parts of Syria. 

The hearing came as President Barack Obama's administration draws criticism over US-led efforts to "degrade and ultimately destroy" ISIL, which despite dozens of daily airstrikes maintains control over parts of Iraq and Syria and has affiliates across the region from Lebanon to Yemen, Libya and Egypt.

"We are seeing the latest manifestation of this failed policy, the flood of people pouring out of the Middle East that has led to the worst refugee crisis in Europe since World War II," said committee chairman Senator John McCain, who in 2008 ran against Obama as the Republican candidate for president, AFP reported.

Central to the hearing was the issue of local forces fighting ISIL. Unwilling to commit US ground troops in the region, the Obama administration in January launched a "train and equip" program for Syrian opposition militants as part of a broader push to work with locals there and in Iraq.

The original target was for around 5,400 vetted Syrians each year for three years. But the program faltered, with many would-be fighters failing the screening process.

In July, an Al-Qaeda affiliate attacked an initial graduating group of 54 troops - and the Pentagon has not said what happened to them all.

When pushed on how many of that group remained in the fight, General Lloyd Austin conceded it was only a handful.

"It's a small number," Austin said. "The ones that are in the fight is... we're talking four or five."

Austin heads the US military's Central Command, better known as CENTCOM, which is overseeing efforts against ISIL. He was joined by Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, Christine Wormuth.

Austin acknowledged the program had gotten off to a "slow start" but said it was a mere "complement to all the other things that we're doing."

With the Pentagon acknowledging the fight against ISIL is likely to take years, lawmakers turned their attention to allegations that senior military officials altered information to downplay the strength of ISIL and Al-Qaeda's branch in Syria. The scandal eruped following a Daily Beast report that said more than 50 US intelligence analysts had complained of intelligence manipulation.

Austin said the Pentagon's inspector general was looking at the allegations.

"Based upon the findings, you can be assured that I will take appropriate actions," he said.

Republican Senator Tom Cotton said he was surprised to hear allegations of intelligence being "cooked," given that the existing reports "are not painting a very pretty picture how this campaign is going."

Lawmakers asked Austin to ensure whistleblowers in the case were protected.