The 51 State Department officials who signed a memo urging the Obama administration to bomb Syria must be applying for a position in the future Hillary Clinton administration.

Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has made it known that she favors a much more belligerent stance in the Syrian civil war, including the imposition of no-fly zones to protect the Sunni terrorists the US is employing to attack the Syrian government of Bashar Assad.

According to the New York Times, the memo urged Secretary of State John Kerry and President Barack Obama “to carry out military strikes against the government of President Bashar al-Assad.”

What happened to the art of diplomacy?

Long time investigative journalist Robert Parry, says that the State Department has become a hothouse of neoconservatives who favor regime change over traditional diplomacy.

“The fact that such a large contingent of State Department officials would openly advocate for an expanded aggressive war in line with the neoconservative agenda, which put Syria on a hit list some two decades ago, reveals how crazy the State Department has become. The State Department now seems to be a combination of true-believing neocons along with their liberal-interventionist followers and some careerists who realize that the smart play is to behave toward the world as global proconsuls dictating solutions or seeking “regime change” rather than as diplomats engaging foreigners respectfully and seeking genuine compromise.”

This sort of tough-guy belligerence is what you get when you fail to hold anyone accountable for repeated catastrophic US foreign policy failures. It’s been over 13 years since all the cool-kids advocated for invading Iraq. Has anyone paid any sort of price for the criminal invasion and destruction of Iraq at the cost of millions of lives and trillions of dollars?

Nope.

The lesson that’s been learned is that advocating for war is a smart career move. Washington insiders believe that Hillary Clinton is going to be the new president and are positioning themselves accordingly. After all, Hillary is the queen of the neocons.

That a gang of 51 State Department officials feels comfortable in openly advocating for military strikes and regime change, is why I’ve been saying for some time now that an administration led by Hillary Clinton is vastly more dangerous than one led by Donald Trump.

Update: Advocacy for military strikes and regime change has real world consequences, including the risk of nuclear war with Russia.

According to the Daily Beast, “U.S. and Russian fighter jets “clashed” bloodlessly in the air over Syria on June 16 as the American pilots tried and failed to stop the Russians from bombing U.S.-backed rebels in southern Syria near the border with Jordan.”

Update 2: At least there are others out there who are as freaked out by these crazy diplomats as I am.

“We are a group of concerned U.S. citizens currently visiting Russia with the goal of increasing understanding and reducing international tension and conflict. We are appalled by this call for direct U.S. aggression against Syria, and believe it points to the urgent need for open public debate on U.S. foreign policy.

We note the following:

(1) The memo is inaccurate. There is no ‘cease-fire’ in Syria. The ‘cessation of hostilities’ which was agreed to has never included the major terrorist groups fighting to overthrow the government in Syria. This includes Nusra (Al Qaeda), ISIS and their fighting allies.

(2) A U.S. attack on Syria would be an act of aggression in clear violation of the UN Charter. (Ref 1)

(3) The supplying of weapons, funding and other support to armed groups fighting the Syrian government is also a violation of international law. (Ref 2)

(4) A U.S. attack on Syria would lead to more bloodshed and risk potential military confrontation with Russia. With arsenals of nuclear weapons on both sides, the outcome could be catastrophic.

(5) It is not the right of the USA or any other foreign country to determine who should lead the Syrian government. That decision should be made by the Syrian people. A worthy goal could be internationally supervised elections with all Syrians participating to decide their national government.

(6) The memo reportedly says, “It is time that the United States, guided by our strategic interests and moral convictions, lead a global effort to put an end to this conflict once and for all.” Similar statements and promises have been made regarding Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya. In all three cases, terrorism and sectarianism have multiplied, the conflicts still rage, and huge amounts of money and lives have been wasted.

In light of the above, and the danger of escalating global conflict:

–We urge State Department officials to seek non-military solutions in conformity with the U.N. Charter and international law.

–We urge the U.S. Administration to stop funding and supplying weapons to armed ‘rebels’ in violation of international law and end the policy of forced “regime change”.

–We call for an urgent nation-wide public debate on the U.S. policy of regime change”