WASHINGTON — The US’s top military official acknowledged Sunday as few as 10 percent of the war planes targeting ISIS may actually drop bombs because the terrorist group has gotten better at concealment.
“That (10 percent figure) wouldn’t surprise me if that’s the right number,” Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on ABC’s “This Week.” “An enemy adapts and they’ll be harder to target. Yeah, they know how to maneuver and how to use populations and concealment.”
Dempsey also revealed the US recently used Apache helicopters to prevent ISIS fighters from taking over the critical Baghdad airport.
ISIS fighters are now on the verge of capturing the Syrian border city of Kobani despite another weekend of US-led airstrikes in Syria and Iraq.
US Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) responded Sunday the limited air strikes are clearly not enough to stop ongoing ISIS gains.
“They’re winning and we’re not,” McCain said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “…There has to be a fundamental re-evaluation of what we’re doing because we are not degrading and ultimately destroying ISIS.”
National Security Adviser Susan Rice defended the strategy Sunday as a long-term effort.
“This is going to take time,” Rice cautioned on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Rice shot down calls for combat troops and said it must be the Iraqis who lead the ground fight.
“We are not going to be in a ground war again in Iraq,” she said.