Saudi FM Backs State Dept Call for Syria Regime Change

State Dept: No Plans to Make Memo Calling for War Public

Yesterday’s emerging reports of the State Department “demanding” that the US abandon its ongoing war against ISIS in Syria in favor of a separate war against the Assad government continues to dominate US foreign policy discussion, and is attracting major comments internationally.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir was quick to back the State Department, insisting that’s the war the Saudis wanted all along, and criticizing President Obama for continuing on with the ISIS war, which the White House insists will not change.

In their daily press briefing, State Department spokesman John Kirby confirmed the existence of the “dissent channel message,” saying that it is extremely unusual for such a message to exist, let alone have a lot of signatures, as this one does.

At the same time, Kirby insisted that the document itself was likely to remain secret, and refused to discuss the exact details of the document, beyond saying that “no one’s content with the status quo.”

The Pentagon and CIA have been fighting for months over the Syria War, with the Pentagon favoring the war against ISIS, and undermining CIA efforts to smuggle weapons to Islamist rebels as part of the civil war, believing it would undermine the ISIS war.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.