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Dozens of U.S. diplomats have urged bombings of President Bashar Assad's forces in Syria in order to make him more likely to step down. The memo, sent to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, was not necessarily intended to be public, and was sent through a "dissent channel":
More than 50 U.S. State Department officials have signed an internal memo calling for a change in the way the United States approaches Syria — specifically, advocating military pressure on Bashar Assad's regime to push him toward the negotiating table.
The diplomats expressed their opposition to the current U.S. policy through a cable on the State Department's dissent channel — which exists for just that reason. But NPR's Michele Kelemen reports that it's unusual for so many officials to sign on to such a cable. "Secretary of State John Kerry says he respects the process and will study their views," Michele tells our Newscast unit.
"The cable reportedly calls for targeted military strikes against the Assad regime, something the Obama administration has been reluctant to do," she reports. "Such action would also put the U.S. on a collision course with Russia at a time that Moscow is backing the Assad regime — and working with Secretary Kerry on a cease-fire and a diplomatic path that has faltered."
The New York Times , which has seen a copy of the memo, reports that the diplomats say they aren't advocating a confrontation with Russia. But a credible military threat against Assad is necessary to pressure him to negotiate, the officials argue. "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 status quo in Syria will continue to present increasingly dire, if not disastrous, humanitarian, diplomatic and terrorism-related challenges," the cable says, according to the Times.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by bziman on Sunday June 19 2016, @03:36AM
Carlin was funny. Eisenhower was serious. You want to know what Eisenhower thinks? Check out his "Chance for Peace" speech where he said what is probably the truest thing ever said by a politician in all of history:
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."
It was Eisenhower who warned us of the Military Industrial Complex.
I have no doubt about how he'd feel about all these meaningless conflicts - it's all about profiteering, and has nothing to do with peace, freedom, or security.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Thexalon on Sunday June 19 2016, @04:13AM
Or there's also the peacenik who wrote this:
Sounds like some sort of left-wing academic peacenik type, maybe coming out of the anti-Vietnam movement. Someone like Noam Chomsky or Howard Zinn.
If you think that, you'd be wrong, because it's actually written by one of the most celebrated soldiers in US history, General Smedley Butler of the US Marine Corps, one of 19 people to have received not one but two Medals of Honor. He goes on to explain exactly who profits, and why.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.