WASHINGTON
Two leading Republican senators on Friday ripped comments by the top U.S. uniformed soldier that the fall of Ramadi to Daesh in the Iraqi province of Anbar is not symbolic and central to Iraq's future.
Most of Ramadi fell to Daesh militants on Thursday after he city was besieged from four hubs.
“Chairman (Martin) Dempsey’s statement that Ramadi ‘is not symbolic in any way,’ has ‘not been declared part of the caliphate,’ and is not ‘central to the future of Iraq’ is a gross mischaracterization," Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham said Friday in a statement.
More than 150,000 Iraqi civilians have fled to Baghdad from Daesh’s advance on Ramadi and dozens of civilians have been killed by blasts and car bombs in the western Iraqi city.
The senators said Dempsey, who is the chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff, does not seem to appreciate that the fall of Ramadi would be seen by Iraqi Sunnis as a failure of the Baghdad government to protect them.
The lawmakers also criticized the Pentagon for defining its strategy for defending Beiji, but abandoning the capital of Anbar province to Daesh.
"Baiji is a little different, of course," Dempsey told reporters. "Baiji is part of the Iraqi oil infrastructure. Once the Iraqis have full control of Baiji, they will control all of their oil infrastructure, both north and south.”
The oil rich city is located 130 miles north of Baghdad, on the main roads to Mosul.
