While some senior State Department officials have long favored more aggressive action against the Bashar al-Assad government, the White House has resisted those calls out of fear of pushing the U.S. into another war. Instead, it has focused on a military campaign against the Islamic State group. But an internal diplomatic cable criticizing the administration's police that was signed by more than 50 State Department diplomats has set brought the discussion to the fore. A draft of the cable, initially revealed to The New York Times and Wall Street Journal, asks the Obama administration to employ a "judicious use of stand-off and air weapons" to directly engage the Syrian army and in a bid to hasten an end to the civil war. "The moral rationale for taking steps to end the deaths and suffering in Syria, after five years of brutal war, is evident and unquestionable,'' it reads. "The status quo in Syria will continue to present increasingly dire, if not disastrous, humanitarian, diplomatic and terrorism-related challenges.'' One reason the cable has rocked Washington is the high number of signatories. "Fifty-one loyal and effective officials have risked their careers to protest a policy that is profoundly wrong and fully counterproductive," said Atlantic Council analyst Fred Hof. The former U.S. ambassador to Syria says it is highly unusual, if not unprecedented, for more than 50 State Department diplomats to sign an internal diplomatic cable critical of presidential policy. "In my experience dating back to 1985 in the Department of State," Robert Ford said, "I have never heard of a dissent channel message that had 10 signatures – much less one that had 50." He said the high number of signatures is an indication that the officials responsible for implementing policy measures on the ground in Syria, pushing for a negotiated political solution and dealing with the refugee crisis, do not believe they can meet objectives under the current policy. "They are warning that the way that it is going now, it is never going to succeed and there needs to be, therefore, a change," said Ford, who is now a Middle East Institute analyst.
