Keane: ISIS Making ‘Significant’ Territorial Gains; ‘They Have Almost Total Control Now’

KEANE: "What they [ISIS] want is control of the Euphrates river valley which stretches all the way from Baghdad up into Syria, where obviously the Euphrates river runs, snakes its way through Syria and Iraq. They want control of all of that. They have almost total control now, which strategically is very important to them. What remains is Ramadi, which is the capital of this province, Anbar province, the largest province in Iraq. What's holding them off there frankly is some Sunni tribes that have been fighting fiercely and with very little assistance from anyone, I may add."
HEMMER: "So then let's say, no assistance from us, no assistance from the Iraqi government in Baghdad. These are the Sunni tribes that we were able to flip during the time of the surge, is that right, sir?"
KEANE: "That’s correct. And there is many more of them out there just sitting on the fence seeing that this new Abadi government truly shares power with them and will the military share power with them. We got to get on with that so we can bring the others in. But this presents the limits and flaws of the current strategy, Bill. The fact of the matter is ISIS is still advancing despite two months of airstrikes and those airstrikes haven’t been nearly as effective as they can be because we've failed to put air ground controllers with the force on the ground that could guide those air strikes when they are in close proximity of friendly forces or population centers. That really is the issue that you see unfolding."