Special to WorldTribune.com

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has said that Iraqi forces “failed to fight” in Ramadi, which has fallen to Islamic State militants, and said the troops lacked the will to defend themselves.

“What apparently happened was the Iraqi forces showed no will to fight,” Carter said on CNN’s State of the Union on May 24.

Carter said Iraqi soldiers “vastly outnumbered” their opposition in the capital of Anbar Province but quickly withdrew from the city.

Iraqi forces left behind large numbers of U.S.-supplied vehicles, including tanks.

Iraqi lawmaker Hakim al-Zamili, the head of the parliamentary defense and security committee, called Carter’s comments “unrealistic and baseless,” in an interview with AP on May 24.

He blamed Washington for failing to provide “good equipment, weapons and aerial support” to Iraqi soldiers.

  Ashton Carter: Iraqi Forces ‘vastly outnumbered ISIL invaders but ‘failed to fight’, WorldTribune.com