© www.rt.comPetraeus: How to "fake win" the war on ISIS.
This was the first public appearance for the retired general and former spymaster, following his April sentencing for revealing classified information to his mistress.
Describing Syria as a "geopolitical Chernobyl... spewing instability" all over the Middle East, Petraeus urged the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) to endorse a policy that would "stop the Syrian air force from flying" and establish safe areas where civilians and anti-government rebels could be protected by US airpower and advisers.
Meanwhile, all the elements of the surge were once again required in Iraq, but this time around the Iraqis would have to provide the ground troops, he said.
Petraeus echoed the official position of the State Department that Syrian president Bashar al-Assad was to blame for the rise of Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIS or ISIL), blaming the government's "barrel bombs" rather than IS for most of the civilian deaths in Syria.
The general pushed for the creation of US-backed protected areas where civilians and militia opposed to the government could shelter under the coalition air umbrella. Eventually, he said, US advisers could be deployed there as boots on the ground. "This is a very complicated military activity, but it is doable," Petraeus told lawmakers.
Comment: ...and they live in their own fantasy, making it up as they go.
The US and its allies (60-nation coalition!) flew 53,278 sorties and supposedly carried out 6700 airstrikes for $4 billion. Either they have really faulty equipment, or they are terrible shots, or there is a simpler explanation as to why 6700 airstrikes did not find their marks, and in fact ISIS has grown in numbers while the US has damaged or destroyed over 10,000 targets, as of August, 2015. -US Department of Defense
How Syrians feel about their 4-year conflict: 82% say IS is US and foreign made group, 79% say foreign fighters made war worse, only 21% prefer life now than under Assad. Source: ORB International