Yuri Gripas/Reuters
Nancy Youssef, Daily Beast: U.S. Spends $600K Per Anti-ISIS Fighter
The Pentagon has spent roughly $36 million on its initial class of U.S.-trained rebels—or $600,000 per anti-ISIS trainee. The average fighter makes between $200-$400 a month, depending on his skillset. In all, officials have allotted $500 million for the training program. U.S. defense officials recently boasted that more Syrians signed up to receive U.S training and take on the self-proclaimed Islamic State since the inaugural class of only 60 fighters. As it turns out, the new class is short of 100 fighters, two defense officials told the Daily Beast. With that, the keystone of the U.S. approach to the war against ISIS in Syria – building up a force to counter the group continues to falter.
At U.S. Central Command, which is responsible for the Middle East, defense officials said that while the current pace did not portend of reaching the goal of 15,000 recruits, at a rate of 5,000 a year, the program was on the right course. Defense officials said they are having a hard time because the vetting process is nearly impossible for most Syrians to pass through. The U.S. demands potential trainees vow to not attack Syrian President Bashir al Assad forces, even as many of those trainees hold Assad responsible for the destruction of their communities and unending death tolls. And U.S. trainers are reticent to accept fighters who have fought alongside many Syrian groups as they consider them too extreme, a difficult proposition in a nearly five-year civil war.
The result: 7,000 applied, 1,700 passed the initial vetting and only 60 completed the inaugural course.
WNU Editor: This article was posted 3 days ago .... but in view of what happened yesterday .... U.S. Anti-ISIS Rebels In Syria Kidnapped By Al Qaeda .... it is clear that this entire program is a complete and unmitigated disaster.
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