WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The United States risks going down the same failed policy of "gradual escalation" in its fight against Daesh that led the county to defeat in the Vietnam War, US Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain said in a letter to the Defense Secretary Ashton Carter.
"As a young military officer, I bore witness to the failed policy of gradual escalation that ultimately led to our nation’s defeat in the Vietnam War," McCain stated in the letter on Tuesday. "Now… I fear this administration’s grudging incrementalism in the war against the Islamic State (ISIL) risks another slow, grinding failure for our nation."
McCain noted conversations with commanders on the ground have led him to the disturbing conclusion that "they have been reduced from considering what it will take to win to what they will be allowed to do by this administration."
Moreover, McCain also urged Carter to explain what will take for the US-led coalition against the Islamic State to recapture Mosul and Raqqa and the amount of US presence required to stop and roll back the terror group’s advances in Africa.
The US-led coalition of more than 60 nations has been conducting airstrikes against the Islamic State, also known as Daesh, first in Iraq since August 2014 and later Syria since September 2014.
