Military.com covers an event featuring John F. Kelly, Commander of US Southern Command, and his comments on the ISIS takeover of Ramadi:
“It breaks my heart” to see ISIS in control of Ramadi, said Marine Gen. John Kelly, commander of the U.S. Southern Command.
In remarks Tuesday to the Atlantic Council, Kelly, who commanded I Marine Expeditionary Force (forward) in 2007 and Multi-National Force-West in Iraq from 2008-2009, said “I’ve got over two years of my life in Ramadi and Anbar province.”
“As a senior commander once and as a second senior commander once, I got hundreds of young Americans either killed or wounded under my command,” said Kelly, who is considered a possible successor to Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford as the next Marine Commandant.
Kelly contrasted the situation in Ramadi today with his memories of the city after insurgents were defeated.