The diplomats expressed their opposition to the current USA policy through a cable on the State Department’s dissent channel – which exists for just that reason.
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The dissent channel – set up during the Vietnam War – allows for State Department officials to present alternate policy recommendations and voice disagreement with current policy without fear of retaliation.
According to reports, the internal memo claims that continuing violence in Syria has “overwhelmed” USA policy in the Middle East, and added that the only way to overturn ISIS would be to oust Bashar Al-Assad and his regime. Russian officials question who might succeed him and argue that chaos would be worse. He did not divulge the identities of the signatories.
“But this is not our method”, said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Friday, just a few hours after her country’s warplanes bombed insurgent forces trained and equipped by the United States.
At least four civilians were killed – three on the eastern side of Aleppo and one in the west, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
“None of the options are good”, Obama said in Saudi Arabia in April.
Among the many problems with this strategy is that it is directly in contradiction to the strategy the U.S. has publicly endorsed in recent months, and the one that they got through the UN Security Council, which is that the strategy to defeat ISIS is to unite the Syrian government and the secular rebels.
Officials said the cable is unlikely to alter Obama’s current policy on Syria, as the White House remains opposed to deeper U.S. military involvement in the conflict, Reuters news agency reported.
Almost all the Russian airstrikes over the past nine months have hit northern Syria, in the region around Aleppo, the country’s second-largest city.
“Russia needs to understand that our patience is not infinite”.
Kerry, speaking to reporters in Copenhagen on Friday, said “I haven’t had a chance to see it yet (the cable) but I agree with the process”.
We know there is a problem and President Obama does not want to start a new war, but he may have to.
“As a businessman focused on profit, the disastrous economic implications of increased United States military involvement in Syria suggests he [Trump] would not be swayed by neoconservative ideologues”, Todd mused. As secretary of state, Hillary Clinton pushed some of these steps too. “In fact, it is very limited with whether or not al-Assad is going to be held accountable”, Kerry said Wednesday following a meeting with Iranian officials.
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The Syrian president, who is a member of the Shia-linked Alawite minority and is backed by Russian Federation and Iran, has vowed to maintain power. And ongoing chaos in Libya, where the USA helped overthrow dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011, is only making him more reticent.
