Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Thursday Pentagon officials have begun to examine how the U.S. military could better equip and train Iraqi troops after the recent fall of the Iraqi city of Ramadi to Islamic State insurgents. Carter told reporters on his plane to Asia that he had convened a group of defense policy officials and military officers from U.S. Central Command and the Pentagon's Joint Staff to look at how "we can enhance, hasten" the mission to train and equip Iraqi forces. The initial meeting took place on Tuesday before Carter departed on a trip to Asia. "The events of recent weeks there (in Iraq) have highlighted the central importance of having a capable ground partner and that's what the purpose of our train-and-equip program is. So we are looking," Carter said. Ramadi, capital of the predominantly Sunni western Anbar province, fell to Islamic State militants last week after Iraqi security forces withdrew.
