| CNN | - |
(CNN)
More than 50 State Department officials signed an internal memo
protesting U.S. policy in Syria, calling for targeted U.S. military
strikes against the regime of Bashar al-Assad and urging regime change
as the only way to defeat ISIS.
State Department officials call for U.S. military action against Assad regime
Story highlights
- The 51 officials who signed the memo are mostly from the rank and file of the department
- The memo reflects a widespread view in the State Department that tougher military action in Syria is needed
(CNN)More
than 50 State Department officials signed an internal memo protesting
U.S. policy in Syria, calling for targeted U.S. military strikes against
the regime of Bashar al-Assad and urging regime change as the only way
to defeat ISIS.
The cable says
that U.S. policy in the Middle East has been "overwhelmed" by the
continuing violence in Syria. It calls for a "judicious use of stand-off
and air weapons, which would undergird and drive a more focused and
hard-nosed U.S.-led diplomatic process."
CNN reviewed a draft of the memo, which has since been classified. The Wall Street Journal first reported on the memo's existence.
The
internal memo was sent throughout the "dissent channel," a mechanism
for State Department officials to offer alternative views on foreign
policy without freedom of retaliation or retaliation. It was established
in the 1960s during the Vietnam War to ensure that senior leadership in
the department would have access to alternative policy views on the
war.
The 51 officials who signed
the memo are mostly from the rank and file of the department, many of
them career officers in the foreign service who have been involved in
Syria policy over the past several years either in Washington or
overseas.
There
are no high-level names but they reflect a widespread view in the State
Department that tougher military action in Syria is needed to force
Assad to negotiate a diplomatic solution. Secretary of State John Kerry
himself has advocated a more muscular U.S. military posture in Syria to
force Assad to negotiate a political settlement.
Sources
familiar with the memo said the officials had been discussing sending
it for some time, but they finally decided to move forward because
negotiations with Russia over a political transition in Syria have all
but collapsed and the fragile ceasefire continues to disintegrate. The
memo says that neither Assad nor Russia have taken past ceasefires and
negotiations seriously and suggests a more robust military approach was
needed to force a transitional government in Syria.
President
Barack Obama has resisted wading deeper into the Syria conflict, but
officials familiar with the memo said the State Department officials
could be trying to force a policy debate in the upcoming elections.
Hillary Clinton has promised a tougher policy toward Assad, while Donald
Trump has promised to get tough on ISIS but would work with Russia.
News
of the cable came as Pentagon officials said Russia launched airstrikes
against U.S.-backed Syrian rebels in southern Syria. Earlier Thursday,
Russia said it wanted a long term ceasefire in the northern city of
Aleppo. Russia has been providing military support to the Syrian army.
The
memo calls on the U.S. to create a stronger partnership with moderate
rebel forces to battle both Assad's forces and ISIS, which would change
the tide of the conflict against the regime and "increase the chances
for peace by sending a clear signal to the regime and its backers that
there will be no military solution to the conflict."
It
also warns that as the regime "continues to bomb and starve" Syria's
Sunni population, the U.S. will lose potential allies among Syria's
Sunni population to fight ISIS. Moreover, it says, U.S. failure to stop
the regime's abuses "undermines both morally and materially the unity of
the anti-Daesh coalition" and "will only bolster the ideological appeal
of groups such as Daesh, even as they endure tactical setbacks on the
battlefield." Daesh is an Arabic acronym for ISIS.
State
Department spokesman John Kirby confirmed the existence of the cable
but would not go into detail about the contents. He said doing so would
not be respectful of the process.
"We are aware of 
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