Senator blasts administration's fight against Islamic State

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration's fight against the Islamic State is at risk of becoming a "grinding failure for our nation," an influential Republican senator said Tuesday in a broadside that illustrated the mounting frustrations in Congress with the U.S. strategy to defeat the extremist group.

In a brief but pointed letter to Defense Secretary Ash Carter, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said U.S. military commanders are being hamstrung by an overly cautious Obama administration.

McCain drew a parallel between the campaign against the Islamic State and the war in Vietnam, a conflict he served in as a Navy pilot.

The U.S. and its coalition partners have rolled back the Islamic State group's control of territory, he has said, and a new but fragile government has been formed in Libya.