This archive report was first published on 7 November 2019.
Published on November 7, 2019, a senior U.S. diplomat in Syria, William V. Roebuck, has criticized the Trump administration for not doing enough to prevent Turkey's military offensive in the region.
Roebuck, who has worked on the ground in northern Syria for nearly two years, wrote a scathing internal memo to his boss, James F. Jeffrey, and other top officials at the State Department. In the memo, Roebuck questioned whether tougher American diplomacy, blunter threats of economic sanctions, and increased military patrols could have deterred Turkey from attacking.
Roebuck noted that similar measures had dissuaded Turkish military action before, but this time, the small American military presence at two border outposts, Turkey's decades-long standing as a NATO ally, and its formidable army massing at the Syrian frontier may have made it difficult to deter Turkey.
Roebuck's memo also criticized the administration's policy in northern Syria, saying it was a 'sideshow' to the years-long upheaval in Syria overall. However, he emphasized that it was a 'catastrophic sideshow' and that the U.S. had a significant degree of responsibility for the outcome.
Roebuck focused his harshest criticism on Turkey's military offensive and specifically on Turkey's deployment of Syrian Arab fighters in its vanguard force. He accused these fighters of committing war crimes and ethnic cleansing, including killing Kurdish prisoners and emptying major Kurdish population centers in northern Syria.
Roebuck called for the U.S. to speak out more forcefully against Turkey's behavior and to highlight the Turkish responsibilities for civilian well-being. He also emphasized that the U.S. had a chance to minimize the damage and correct some of the impact of Turkey's current policies.
