Iraqi lawmaker slams US criticism of Iraqi military
BAGHDAD - An Iraqi lawmaker said Sunday US military commanders are pointing fingers for their own failure to properly support the Iraqi military in the fight against the Islamic State group.
US Defense Secretary Ash Carter stirred controversy Sunday morning by claiming in a television interview that Iraqi soldiers had superior numbers but lost the city of Ramadi to the Islamic State group because they "showed no will to fight."
Hakim al-Zamili, the head of the parliamentary defense and security committee, called Carter's comments "unrealistic and baseless."
He said the US should bear much of the blame for the fall of Ramadi for failure to provide "good equipment, weapons and aerial support" to the soldiers. Now, he said, the US military is seeking to "throw the blame on somebody else."
