U.S. Diplomats Slam Obama's Syria Policy, Call for Airstrikes on Assad Regime

From Austin Bay, at the Observer, "As Assad Continues to Wipe Out Syria, State Dept. Dissenters Confront Obama":

Dissenting State Department officials are demanding President Barack Obama wage war on the Assad dictatorship—which is a short step away from demanding regime change.

Late on June 16 The Wall Street Journal reported that the “near collapse” of the current ceasefire had spurred 51 “mid-to high-level State Department officers involved with advising on Syria policy” to sign a “dissent channel cable” calling on the Obama Administration to target Syria’s Assad regime with repeated “military strikes.”

At the moment, the article remains behind The Journal’s paywall, so I’ll include several extended quotes. Journal reporters who personally reviewed the cable described the document as “a scalding internal critique of a longstanding U.S. policy against taking sides in the Syrian war, a policy that has survived even though the regime of President Bashar al-Assad has been repeatedly accused of violating cease-fire agreements and Russian-backed forces have attacked U.S.-trained rebels.”

The dissenters argue “Failure to stem Assad’s flagrant abuses will only bolster the ideological appeal of groups such as Daesh, even as they endure tactical setbacks on the battlefield.” The Journal adds that Daesh is an Arabic acronym for Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

The article provides excellent background information, noting the “Dissent Channel” is an authorized forum for expressing opposing views. It also quotes a former State Department official who acknowledged: “It’s embarrassing for the administration to have so many rank-and-file members break on Syria.” The dissent comes from “the heart” of the State Department bureaucracy—in other words, career, professional diplomats.

Yeah, and keep in mind the overwhelming majority of these "career professionals" at State are leftists. It's thus even doubly telling how disastrous this dissent is the for administration's policy.

More here.

And pay wall? What pay wall?

Just click through at the Google link to read the WSJ's piece, "U.S. State Department Officials Call for Strikes Against Syria's Assad."