Top general's candor: No strategy against Daesh in Libya

In remarkably blunt testimony, US President Barack Obama's nominee to command US forces in Africa said Tuesday that more ground troops were needed in Libya to fight Daesh and agreed the current strategy of not bombing the terror group's affiliate there "makes no sense," CNN reported on Wednesday

When asked by the committee's chairman, Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican, whether the US had a strategy for Libya, Marine Lt. Gen. Thomas Waldhauser said he didn't know about one.

"I am not aware of any overall grand strategy at this point," Waldhauser said at his confirmation hearing to become commander of the Africa Command.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Repubilcan, asked him if it would be "wise" for him to have the authority to order strikes against Daesh without having to first seek White House approval, as is currently the case.

"It would be wise, it would certainly contribute to what we're trying to do inside Libya," Waldhauser responded.

Waldhauser agreed with Graham that Daesh represented "an imminent threat to the United States" but he noted that the US was not conducting air strikes against the terror group's Libyan branch.

Source: MENA