US not losing against IS: Obama after Ramadi loss

“No, I don’t think we’re losing. “There’s no doubt there was a tactical setback, although Ramadi had been vulnerable for a very long time, primarily because these are not Iraqi security forces that we have trained or reinforced,” Obama said in an interview with news magazine The Atlantic published on Thursday, days after the key Iraqi territory was stormed.

His comments also come just two days after the White House admitted the ISIS taking control of Anbar capital Ramadi was “indeed a setback” even as it vowed to help the Iraqi forces to reverse the outfit’s gains.

Since August last year, a US-led coalition has conducted over 6,000 airstrikes in Iraq and Syria to destroy the ISIS.

Obama has not recalled US combat troops to Iraq, following a long brutal war after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.

However, the defeat in Ramadi has forced the US to take a re-look at its strategy.

It has also put a question mark on the credibility of Iraq’s government, with Obama blaming the <g data-gr-id="26">rout</g> on <g data-gr-id="29">lack</g> of training and reinforcement of Iraq’s own security forces.

“...it is indicative that the training of Iraqi security forces, the fortifications, the command-and-control systems are not happening fast enough in Anbar, in the Sunni parts of the country,” he said. Obama said besides training, “commitment” needs to be ramped up in the Sunni areas that <g data-gr-id="37">has</g> been a “source of concern”.

“...and we better get Sunni tribes more activated than they currently have been. So it is a source of concern. We’re eight months into what we’ve always anticipated <g data-gr-id="39">to be</g> a multi-year campaign, and I think (Iraqi) Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi recognises many of these problems, but they’re going to have to be addressed,” he said.

The President said there has been significant progress in the north but “today the question is: How do we find effective partners to govern in those parts of Iraq that right now are ungovernable and effectively defeat ISIL, not just in Iraq but in Syria.”