More than 50 State Department diplomats signed the memo, which was critical of USA policy in Syria and called for military strikes against the government of President Bashar al-Assad.
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Dozens of United States diplomats have said their country should launch military strikes against the Syrian government, breaking ranks with President Barack Obama’s policy on the war.
In a “dissident channel cable” leaked to The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, the mid-level diplomats who are involved in Syria policy urged “targeted USA military strikes” to put pressure on the Syrian regime.
Kirby said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry “values and respects” the dissent channel, but would not be drawn on whether he believes this specific complaint has merit.
“I don’t think it’s very realistic”, said Stephen Biddle, a George Washington University professor who has advised US commanders in the Middle East.
Russian Federation on Friday condemned a U.S. diplomatic cable calling for military strikes against the Syrian government, as Washington again accused Moscow of bombing US-backed rebels in the war-torn country.
The document is alleged to have expressed frustration with America’s inability to halt a civil war in Syria that has killed around half a million people and contributed to a worldwide refugee crisis.
While the signing of dissent cables is not uncommon, the number of signatures on the document is considered unusually large.
Former U.S. ambassador to Syria Robert Ford has been particularly vocal on the need for more U.S. involvement on the Syrian conflict.
The State Department spokesman, John Kirby, declined to comment on the memo, which top officials had just received.
The department’s “Dissent Channel”, which was established during the Vietnam War, allows diplomats who disagree with an official policy line to register their concerns with senior staff without fear of retribution.
The US has consistently refused to join forces with Russian Federation in Syria against ISIL ever since Russian Federation launched its campaign of air strikes in September 2015, accusing it of acting exclusively to prop up Assad. “The status quo in Syria will continue to present increasingly dire, if not disastrous, humanitarian, diplomatic and terrorism-related challenges”. But talks on a political transition have yet to materialize and Assad’s forces-sometimes backed by Russian warplanes-have continued to launch offensives.
Several U.S. officials said that while the White House is prepared to hear the diplomats’ dissenting viewpoint, it is not expected to spur any changes in President Barack Obama’s approach to Syria in his final seven months in office. The officials insisted that they were not “advocating for a slippery slope that ends in a military confrontation with Russian Federation”, but rather a credible threat of military action to keep Assad in line.
Republican and even some Democratic lawmakers have been urging Obama to take greater military action in Syria for years, from air strikes to the establishment of a no-fly zone over rebel-held areas.
“In a nutshell, the group would like to see a military option put forward to put some pressure. on the regime”, said the second source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“We have been arguing from the beginning of the Syrian crisis that there should be more robust intervention”, Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir of Saudi Arabia, a key USA ally, said Friday.
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The cable also warned that by failing to act against Assad, the US risks alienating moderate Sunnis in Syria, who might otherwise be inclined to fight against ISIS.
