WASHINGTON (AP) — The top general overseeing U.S. military attacks on the Islamic State group in Iraq is telling a congressional panel that the militants are losing and that the U.S.-led coalition has killed 8,500 of their fighters.
Army Gen. Lloyd Austin made the statement to the House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday in testifying in support of President Barack Obama’s request for new legal authority to execute the military campaign against the Islamic State.
Austin is commander of U.S. Central Command and is a former commander of U.S. forces in Iraq.
He told the committee that the Islamic State has been forced to assume what he called a “defensive crouch” in Iraq, having lost the ability to capture significant new territory.
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