ramadi the capital of iraq s anbar province. and let s go to cnn s senior international correspondent arwa damon in baghdad. is isis being pushed back? is isis losing ground? those are two assertions that the white house was making last week to sort of cool down all of the second-guessing that s been taking place here in washington. what can you tell us from the ground there? reporter: first of all, one has to continuously keep in mind the battle lines here are constantly shifting and small chunks of territory do regularly go back and forth. following the fall of ramadi a week ago, isis did push into other smaller towns located to the east of ramadi. now, the iraqi government has managed to recapture some of them but not only on its own. you had a unit that was comprised of the iraqi army, plus, and was arguably the deciding factor in this, the popular mobilization units and that is this iranian-backed shia paramilitary force. and it was largely due to them that they were a
descended on city of ramadi and took it over. ash carter telling cnn exclusively that he is very concerned. that says to me and i think to most of us that we have an issue with the will of the iraqis to fight isil and defend themselves. cnn s athena jones joins me live from the white house. athena last hour arwa damon in baghdad said clearly the words from the u.s. defense secretary greatly upset the people of iraq and they said that is not the case that their armed forces do not have the will to fight. what s the white house saying? reporter: well the white house is not saying anything today, but secretary carton iser sends this message to the iraqi forces. you can bet the white house is aware of what he said and is not speaking out of turn. ever since the fall of ramadi this week and palmyra in syria there s been pressure on the white house and criticism on the white house s whole strategy regarding isis in the region. you re hearing from a lot of people saying the wh