Military officials said Monday that the Iraqis’ success in Ramadi show that the administration’s strategy to defeat the Islamic State is working, while some lawmakers pointed to tough fights still facing the local forces that will demand more U.S. action.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., commended Iraqi forces for making progress in securing Ramadi, but noted that local forces still face major battles that will likely be more difficult than the ongoing fight to retake Ramadi from the Islamic State.
“No one should understate how much work remains and how much more difficult that work will be than liberating Ramadi. The black flags of ISIL still fly over Mosul, Raqqa and other key parts of Iraq and Syria,” McCain said Monday in a statement.
The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said that the Islamic State also has a presence outside of Iraq and Syria throughout the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia. The terrorist group also demonstrated its ability to attack and influence the West through attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif.
The fight to retake Ramadi, which fell into Islamic State control in May, has stretched on for months, with shaping operations on the outskirts of the city beginning over the summer. On Monday morning, Iraqi forces raised a flag over the government complex in the center of the city, marking a significant victory even though more than a quarter of the city remains in terrorist hands.
Local forces will need to leave behind some sort of stabilizing presence to hold Ramadi once they clear the entire city, which will lower the numbers that can take on the Islamic State in other parts of Iraq and Syria, McCain said.
He also said there is no local ground force both capable and willing to launch an assault to retake the Islamic State’s self-declared caliphate in Raqqa, “nor is one likely to emerge in the forseeable future.”
As a result, he called on the president to step up America’s involvement in the conflict and clearly share his strategy with the American people.
“If our goal truly is to destroy ISIL in the near future, rather than kick the can down the road for others to deal with, the United States must play a far more active role than we are now, especially in supporting local Sunni Arab forces to take the fight to ISIL themselves,” he said.
But military officials said the near-win at Ramadi is evidence that the administration’s current strategy is working.
“The fight for Ramadi demonstrates how capable, motivated local forces backed by coalition air support and training can defeat ISIL,” Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Monday in a statement. “‎Now it’s important for the Iraqi government, working with provincial and local authorities, to seize this opportunity to maintain the peace in Ramadi, prevent the return of ISIL and other extremists, and facilitate the return of Ramadi’s citizens back to the city.”
Instead of looking to future fights, U.S. military officials pointed to past accomplishments of the Iraqi forces as evidence that, coupled with the success at Ramadi, shows that “the enemy is losing momentum as they steadily cede territory,” Gen. Lloyd Austin, commander of U.S. Central Command, said in a statement.
The coalition provided more than 630 airstrikes in the effort to retake Ramadi, as well as training for several of the Iraqi soldiers participating in the fight and specialized equipment to help local ground forces clear improvised explosive devices from the city, said Col. Steve Warren, a spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve.
“Today’s success is a proud moment for Iraq,” he said in a statement.
