US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has said the defeat of Iraqi powers at the city of Ramadi demonstrated they did not have the will to battle against Islamic State.
Mr Carter told CNN's State of the Union the Iraqis "immeasurably dwarfed" the IS strengths yet decided to withdraw.
The leader of Iraq's resistance and security council said the remarks were "improbable and ridiculous".
The Iraqi government has now sent Shia local armies to the region to attempt to stop the development of IS.
On Saturday, the militiamen retook Husayba, east of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar region, with substantial battling proceeding in the zone on Sunday.
'Extremely concerning'
The US has put resources into a strategy of preparing and equipping the Iraqi powers since it withdrew its battle troops toward the end of 2011.
Yet, Iraqi powers have endured various annihilations because of IS over the previous year, abandoning US-supplied materiel.
Mr Carter said of Ramadi: "What evidently happened is the Iraqi compels simply demonstrated no will to battle. They were not dwarfed. Truth be told, they boundlessly dwarfed the restricting power."
Portraying the circumstance as "exceptionally concerning", he included: "We can give them preparing, we can give them hardware - we clearly can't give them the will to battle."
Mr Carter said the supply of preparing and gear would proceed, in the trust it would grow such a will.
The BBC's Rajini Vaidyanathan in Washington says the remarks are a stinging appraisal of the armed force the US has been preparing and will encourage commentators who say the best way to thrashing is to put American boots on the ground - something Washington has so far precluded.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi told the BBC's John Simpson he was "amazed" at the remarks.
"[Mr Carter] was exceptionally steady of Iraq and I am certain he was bolstered with the wrong data," he said.
Mr Abadi additionally demanded Ramadi could be taken back "in days".
Hakim al-Zamili, the leader of Iraq's parliamentary safeguard and security panel, was more condemning of Mr Carter.
Mr Zamili told Associated Press the US had neglected to give "great gear, weapons and elevated backing" at Ramadi and was looking to "toss the fault on another person".
Mr Carter protected the US strategy of completing air strikes in backing of Iraqi ground constrains and said a definitive annihilation of IS would rely on upon the Iraqi individuals.
He said: "We can take part in the annihilation of IS. At the same time, we can't make Iraq... a conventional spot for individuals to live. We can't support the triumph, just the Iraqis can do that. What's more, specifically for this situation, the Sunni tribes toward the west."
0 Comments