World Bulletin / News Desk

The White House on Tuesday defended the country’s defense chief’s criticism of Iraqi forces for having “no will to fight” ISIL that contributed to the fall of Ramadi to the militant group.

 “What Secretary [Ash] Carter said is consistent with the analysis that he's received from those who are on the ground, who are looking at the situation,” said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.

In an interview with CNN, Carter said: “What apparently happened was that the Iraqi forces just showed no will to fight.”

Following Carter’s remarks, Vice President Joe Biden’s call with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi that was characterized by American media as an effort to patch things up after Carter's comments.

Earnest acknowledged that Biden reassured the Iraqi leader about U.S. assistance but declined to characterize the call as an attempt to patch things up, adding that the Iraqi government also acknowledged that its forces withdrawal from Ramadi was "in part attributable to a breakdown in some military command and planning.”

Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren also defended his chief’s position saying Iraqi forces retreated despite the fact that they "substantially outnumbered the enemy" with a "substantial combat power advantage. 

“In Ramadi, there was the problem of low morale among the troops and a problem with the command structure,” he said.

Warren said several factors that contributed to problems among Iraqi forced included long periods of fighting against ISIL, terrorist tactics that discouraged Iraqi forces and concerns of commanders in Ramadi about the flow of resources from the central government.

But he added that most of the Iraqi forces have fighting in Ramadi were not trained by the U.S.

The Iraqi military’s defeat in Ramadi echoed the sudden withdrawal of Iraqi forces from Mosul in last June after a ISIL offensive, which similarly resulted in scores of military equipment falling into ISIL’s hands.

The Iraqi government said Iraqi forces will launch an offensive to retake Ramadi.