It is "immoral" for the United States not to take on the Islamic State (ISIS) and the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad simultaneously, says Sen. John McCain.
The Arizona Republican has long urged President Barack Obama to give aid to the Free Syrian Rebels, who he argues are the moderates involved in the country's three-way civil war. He also believes the currently U.S.-led airstrikes cannot succeed without ground support to identify targets.
The United States is allowing Assad to destroy the Free Syrian Army because every time we bomb the Islamic State, Assad moves in and attacks the FSA with more intensity, McCain said Thursday on Fox News Channel's "On the Record with Greta Van Susteren."
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The United States is helping train 5,000 FSA fighters in Saudi Arabia, who will then return to battle. McCain said they simply will be bombed by Assad's forces when they return.
"This is as convoluted and as immoral as anything I've ever seen the United States of America do," the former Vietnam prisoner of war said.
McCain was also critical of America's refusal to arm Kurdish Peshmerga forces expected to lose the Syrian town of Kobani to ISIS.
"If it wasn't so tragic, this would almost be farce," he said.