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Selva: 40 Percent Of U.S. Airstrikes Fail To Strike Islamic State Targets

December 9, 2015

Vice Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Paul Selva admitted Wednesday that 40 percent of U.S. airstrikes fail to strike "dynamic targets" in the fight against the Islamic State (IS).

"It depends on which day and which targets that we’re talking about, but roughly 40 percent come back every day not having struck dynamic targets, with weapons still aboard," Selva said in a Senate testimony on U.S. strategy against IS.

Earlier in the hearing, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said that IS is "building momentum." He also said that the United States will not "hesitate to confront ISIS," using an alternate acronym for IS.

Carter told the panel that the U.S. will provide more support for Iraqi forces fighting IS militants, including "accompanying advisers" and "attack helicopters." He emphasized the importance of retaking Ramadi, a city in Iraq that was taken by Islamic State in May.

Still, he maintained the Obama administration’s insistence on not sending a large number of ground troops to the Middle East, saying that this would only "Americanize the conflicts in Iraq and Syria."

The Obama administration’s foreign policy has come under increasing criticism from the American public ever since President Obama said that IS was "contained" the day before the deadly, Islamic State-orchestrated attack in Paris.

A recent CNN/ORC poll found that the majority of Americans support sending U.S. ground troops to fight the Islamic State. The same poll revealed that 64 percent do not approve of Obama’s handling of the Islamic State.