http://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-ashton-carter-islamic-state-20150524-story.html
your tears are salty pol
The Obama administration intensified its defense of the president's strategy against Islamic State militants Sunday, with Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter making a vigorous case that the terrorist group can only be defeated if the Iraqis “develop the will to fight.” In the wake of Islamic State victories in the Iraqi city of Ramadi and in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra last week, Carter fended off suggestions that it’s time to position U.S. ground troops and troop air controllers near the trouble spots in an effort to contain the Islamic State.
Local officials and fighters must take responsibility, he said. “They are the ones that have to beat ISIL and keep them beat,” Carter said on CNN’s “State of the Union," using an alternate acronym for the group. “We can participate in the defeat of ISIL but we can't make Iraq run as a decent place for people to live. We can’t sustain the victory; only the Iraqis can do that.”
The U.S. role in the turbulent region might change at some point, Carter acknowledged, suggesting he would remain open to recommending a change in strategy. But the fall of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, points to a need for the U.S. to help improve the Iraqis' equipment and training while “encouraging their will to fight so that our campaign enabling them can be successful."