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U.S. REPORT ON SYRIA CHEMICAL WEAPONS 'FABRICATED' - RUSSIAN MP
PanARMENIAN.Net - A U.S. government report concluding Syria has used
chemical weapons against rebels, crossing what U.S. President Barack
Obama has previously described as a "red line," is a fabrication, a
senior Russian lawmaker said Friday, June 14, according to RIA Novosti.
"Information about the usage of chemical weapons by [Syrian President
Bashar] Assad is fabricated in the same way as the lie about [Saddam]
Hussein's weapons of mass destruction [in Iraq]," Alexei Pushkov,
head of the Russian lower house of parliament's international affairs
committee, said on Twitter.
U.S. intelligence reports presented to the UN and the international
community prior to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 claimed Saddam
Hussein's regime possessed weapons of mass destruction including
nerve agents, ballistic missiles and a nuclear weapons program. The
U.S. claimed the threat posed by those weapons justified the invasion
of Iraq, but after the country was occupied, the alleged weapons of
mass destruction were never found.
President Obama is following the way of George W. Bush, Pushkov said.
The White House said on Thursday it now believes with "high confidence"
that Syrian government forces have used chemical weapons many times
during the two-year conflict there, and vowed to boost U.S.
aid to the armed opposition fighting to remove Assad from power.
White House Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said Obama
had decided to provide further support, including military support,
for Syrian opposition forces as a result of its conclusion that
government forces has used such chemical weapons.
Rhodes declined to clarify whether this support would entail providing
arms to the Syrian opposition, but said U.S. aid to armed opposition
on the ground would differ greatly "in scope and scale" from assistance
Washington had previously provided to the rebels. The U.S.
goal, Rhodes said, is to "strengthen their effectiveness."
PanARMENIAN.Net - A U.S. government report concluding Syria has used
chemical weapons against rebels, crossing what U.S. President Barack
Obama has previously described as a "red line," is a fabrication, a
senior Russian lawmaker said Friday, June 14, according to RIA Novosti.
"Information about the usage of chemical weapons by [Syrian President
Bashar] Assad is fabricated in the same way as the lie about [Saddam]
Hussein's weapons of mass destruction [in Iraq]," Alexei Pushkov,
head of the Russian lower house of parliament's international affairs
committee, said on Twitter.
U.S. intelligence reports presented to the UN and the international
community prior to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 claimed Saddam
Hussein's regime possessed weapons of mass destruction including
nerve agents, ballistic missiles and a nuclear weapons program. The
U.S. claimed the threat posed by those weapons justified the invasion
of Iraq, but after the country was occupied, the alleged weapons of
mass destruction were never found.
President Obama is following the way of George W. Bush, Pushkov said.
The White House said on Thursday it now believes with "high confidence"
that Syrian government forces have used chemical weapons many times
during the two-year conflict there, and vowed to boost U.S.
aid to the armed opposition fighting to remove Assad from power.
White House Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said Obama
had decided to provide further support, including military support,
for Syrian opposition forces as a result of its conclusion that
government forces has used such chemical weapons.
Rhodes declined to clarify whether this support would entail providing
arms to the Syrian opposition, but said U.S. aid to armed opposition
on the ground would differ greatly "in scope and scale" from assistance
Washington had previously provided to the rebels. The U.S.
goal, Rhodes said, is to "strengthen their effectiveness."