Army Gen. Dempsey: 'Iraqi Forces Not Driven From Ramadi, They Drove Out of Ramadi'.

Army Gen. Dempsey: 'Iraqi Forces Not Driven From Ramadi, They Drove Out of Ramadi'. (SWJ).

Iraqi security forces weren’t “driven from” Ramadi, they “drove out of Ramadi,” the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said here today.

Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey told reporters traveling with him that he has said from the start that the mission against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant would take years to accomplish.

“At the start I said three years,” he said. “That still might be the case, we may be able to achieve our objectives in three years. But I said then, and I reiterate now, that there may be tactical exchanges -- some of which go the way of Iraqi security forces and others which go the way of ISIL. But the coalition has all the strategic advantages over time.”

Reports indicate that Iraqi security forces drove out of Ramadi -- an important provincial capital -- during a sandstorm May 16.

“This group of [Iraqi security forces] had been forward-deployed in al Anbar [province] -- arguably the most dangerous part of Iraq,” he said. “They believed they were less well-supported. The tribes had begun to come together, but had not … allied themselves with the [security forces].”

The sandstorm precluded U.S. air support against ISIL and the Iraqi commander on the ground made “what appears to be a unilateral decision to move to what he perceived to be a more defensible position,” the general said. Hmmmm.....Three years a.k.a. A new president.Read the full story here.