Black flag of al- Qaida flies in Fallujah, where U. S. fought bloody battle in ’ 04
The White House was under growing pressure Sunday to shore up the Iraqi government as al- Qaida fighters swarmed into the power vacuum left by the withdrawal of U. S. forces two years ago.
The Iraqi military tried to dislodge the al- Qaida militants in Sunni- dominated Anbar province Sunday, unleashing airstrikes and besieging the regional capital in fighting that killed at least 34 people, officials said.
Sunni tribesmen and their alQaida allies have seized control of most of the western province of Anbar and driven back Iraqi forces.
By Sunday, the militants appeared to be fully in control of the city of Fallujah — the scene of America’s heaviest losses during the eight- year war — and Republicans accused the White House of presiding over a “strategic disaster.”
Republican Senators John McCain and Lindsay Graham criticized U. S. President Barack Obama’s decision to withdraw all U. S. troops in December 2011, saying the militants’ advances were “as tragic as they were predictable.”
The Iraqi army and allied tribesmen fought al- Qaida militants around the provincial capital of Ramadi on Sunday.
Some of the factions who fought the Americans following the U. S.- led invasion a decade ago say they do not want the Iraqi army to enter the city.
Obama has long said that ending the deeply unpopular Iraq war was one of his key foreign policy successes and U. S. public opinion overwhelmingly supported the withdrawal.
But images of al- Qaida’s black flag flying in Fallujah threatened to undermine the White House narrative of success.
John Kerry, the U. S. secretary of state, said there was no chance of U. S. ground troops returning to Iraq but did not rule out the possibility American drones could be deployed to support the Iraqi government.