Biden reassures Iraqi PM amid harsh criticism

WASHINGTON — Vice President Joe Biden reassured Iraq’s government on Monday of U.S. support in the fight against the Islamic State group, telephoning Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi with thanks for “the enormous sacrifice and bravery of Iraqi forces” one day after Defense Secretary Ashton Carter questioned the Iraqi military commitment. Mr. Biden’s call followed harsh criticism from Iraqi and Iranian quarters after Mr. Carter questioned Iraqi forces’ “will to fight” the Islamic State group.

A White House statement Monday describing Mr. Biden’s call said the vice president welcomed an Iraqi decision to mobilize additional troops and “prepare for counterattack operations.” Mr. Biden also pledged full U.S. support to “these and other Iraqi efforts to liberate territory from ISIL,” the statement said, using an acronym for Islamic State.

In reaction to Mr. Carter’s remarks, which were aired Sunday in a TV interview, Saad al-Hadithi, a spokesman for Mr. Abadi, said the Iraqi government blames mismanagement and poor planning by some senior military commanders.

Gen. Qassim Soleimani, the head of the elite Quds forces in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, said the U.S. didn’t do a “[darn] thing” to stop the extremists’ advance on Ramadi.

“Does it mean anything else than being an accomplice in the plot?” he reportedly asked, later saying the U.S. showed “no will” in fighting the Islamic State group.

The heated exchanges came after the loss of Ramadi and amid other gains by the IS in recent days. The statements laid bare fissures among countries that have become allies of convenience against the militants. The criticism from both Iraq and Iran began when Mr. Carter told CNN’s “State of the Union” that Iraqi forces “vastly outnumbered” the Islamic State group, but still “showed no will to fight” and fled the IS advance on the capital of Anbar province.

The Islamic State poured more fighters into Ramadi as security forces and Shiite paramilitaries prepared to retake the Iraqi city that fell to the Islamist militants a week ago in a major setback for the government.

In Palmyra, the Syrian air force struck at buildings captured by the Sunni militant group, whose arrival has raised fears that the city's famed Roman ruins will be destroyed.