Obama on ISIS: Ramadi is just a 'tactical setback'

(Image credit: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

published 21 May 2015

In an interview with The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg published Thursday, President Obama spoke about ISIS, the Iraq war, and a potential Iran nuclear deal.

Goldberg interviewed Obama on Tuesday, as ISIS gained control of Ramadi, the 10th-largest city in Iraq. "I don't think we're losing," Obama said of the battle against ISIS. "There's no doubt there was a tactical setback, although Ramadi had been vulnerable for a very long time, primarily because these are not Iraqi security forces that we have trained or reinforced." The interview came before ISIS took control of Palmyra, Syria, on Wednesday.

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I know that there are some in Republican quarters who have suggested that I've overlearned the mistake of Iraq, and that, in fact, just because the 2003 invasion did not go well doesn't argue that we shouldn't go back in. And one lesson that I think is important to draw from what happened is that if the Iraqis themselves are not willing or capable to arrive at the political accommodations necessary to govern, if they are not willing to fight for the security of their country, we cannot do that for them. [The Atlantic]

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Meghan DeMaria is a staff writer at TheWeek.com. She has previously worked for USA Today and Marie Claire.