More than 50 US diplomats signed an internal memo urging the Obama administration to approve military airstrikes against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, widely held responsible for massacre and displacement of millions of Syrians.
According to the memo obtained by The New York Times, the diplomats say that American policy has been “overwhelmed” by the catastrophic violence in Syria.
The signatories call for a “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.”
“The moral rationale for taking steps to end the deaths and suffering in Syria, after five years of brutal war, is evident and unquestionable,” the memo said. “The status quo in Syria will continue to present increasingly dire, if not disastrous, humanitarian, diplomatic and terrorism-related challenges.”
The memo was filed through what is known as the State Department’s “dissent channel,” a method that was set up during the Vietnam war which allows serving U.S. diplomats to protest current administration policy without risking their careers. The channel has been frequently used in the past, but the 51 signatories to the current proposal has been described by the Times as “extremely large, if not unprecedented.”
