Assad Says No 'Conclusive' Evidence of Chemical Attack, Hints Allies May Respond to Any Strike

إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية W460

Syrian President Bashar Assad has denied in an interview with CBS television that he was behind a chemical attack last month and called on lawmakers to reject planned U.S. military strikes, the U.S. network said Sunday.

"He denied that he had anything to do with the attack," CBS veteran correspondent Charlie Rose said, speaking after earlier interviewing Assad in Syria.

"He denied that he knew there was a chemical attack, notwithstanding what has been said and notwithstanding the videotape. He said there's not enough evidence to make a conclusive judgment.

"The most important thing, as he says, is that 'there's no evidence that I used chemical weapons against my own people'," Rose said.

Assad's rare interview with an American network is to be aired on CBS on Monday.

The United States has led the charge that Assad ordered a chemical attack against the residents of a Damascus suburb on August 21, which Washington says killed some 1,400 people including about 400 children.

Graphic videos released on Saturday showed dozens of people, including children, writhing on the ground with convulsions, some apparently foaming at the mouth and vomiting as rescuers sought to help them.

But Assad challenged the U.S. administration of President Barack Obama to provide the evidence as it seeks to build domestic and international support for military strikes against the Syrian regime for breaking international conventions with its alleged use of chemical weapons.

"He said that he did not necessarily know whether there was going to be a military strike. He said that they were obviously as prepared as they could be for a strike," Rose added, citing his interview with Assad.

The long-time Syrian leader also "had a message to the American people that it had not been a good experience for them to get involved in the Middle East in wars and conflicts," Rose said.

"The results had not been good and they should not get involved and that they should communicate to their Congress and to their leadership in Washington not to authorize a strike."

"He does accept some of the responsibility" for the attack, Rose said. "I asked that very question: 'Do you feel any remorse?' He said, 'Of course I do,' but it did not come in a way that was sort of deeply felt inside. It was much more of a calm recitation of anybody who's a leader of a country would feel terrible about what's happened to its citizens."

Though Assad told Rose he was not necessarily expecting the United States to intervene, he "suggested that there would be, among people that are aligned with him, some kind of retaliation if a strike was made." But he "would not even talk about the nature of the response," Rose said.

"I also raised the question with him did he fear that if there was an attack, it would degrade his own military, and therefore make it more likely that it might tip the balance," Rose went on to say. "He's very, very concerned about that as an issue," he added.

Congress is due to begin full debate this week on whether to approve Obama's plans for limited military strikes on Syria aimed at degrading its chemical weapons ability when it returns from its summer break on Monday.

But there is a deep skepticism among a war-weary American public over a new American military engagement in the Middle East.

Comments 47
Default-user-icon The Pulse (Guest) 08 September 2013, 19:42

Now there was no chemical attack? For weeks the government, Iran and Russia have been saying the rebels did it. Now they say nothing happened. Get your stories straight guys.

Thumb bustany 09 September 2013, 00:53

After 40 years of Baath, our women in Syria proudly educated, never been a rape case (unless you listen to M14 media), no harassment. The domestic violence barely nonexistence.. Thanks to Baath, we educated our men to respect women. However, it was easy to the culture of Saud to come back quickly to some Syrians and after the first Allah wakbar, they start eating human livers.

Missing helicopter 09 September 2013, 01:06

After 40 years of Baath,. Lebanon went from being 100 years ahead of Syria to being raped and extorted by the Assads.

Thumb benzona 08 September 2013, 20:24

It's like asking jack the reaper if he did commit all his murders....

Mouarf!

Yalla Obama, khallisna ba2a.... Tomahawk him NOW! Yes you can!

Allahū Akbar ;-)

Thumb benzona 08 September 2013, 20:34

C'est kif-kif!

Thumb lebanon_first 08 September 2013, 20:31

Ya Bachar. You are a liar. Son of a liar. You gassed your own people. You created and imported takfiris from pakistan and yemen to the levant. Your family killed every strong leader who would have prospered Lebanon. You hired mamlouk, a criminal whose sole job description is to create strife and death in Lebanon.
For the things above, I would like to see you in the Hague having to respond to an itemized list of your crimes. That would take hours to merely list.

Missing hb9z 08 September 2013, 20:42

amen brother.....

Missing lebcan 08 September 2013, 20:46

I second that.... Amen Brother

Thumb Machia 08 September 2013, 20:52

You are too kind...The Hague, is too civilized for this despot. He needs a court in Mazze where so many were killed at his and his father's hands.
Unfortunately, he will live...like a rodent...but he will.

Thumb bustany 08 September 2013, 22:13

Unless for Bashar's father, the Christian Lebanese will be spending their fridays at the mosques.

Thumb primesuspect 08 September 2013, 23:44

u r sick

Missing hb9z 09 September 2013, 01:02

say what again? we would be spending friday at the mosque...? and hafez protected us by bombing achrafieh and the charkieh for 3 months?really ? he kept president sarkis hostage in baabda for 5 miserable years and lied and gave false hopes to the lebanese...HE WAS PAID by the arab league to bring peace and get the lebanese to restructure the country from 76 to late 90's I beleive...and instead he brought chaos, murder, car bombs and the israeli invasion on 82...he kept the golan quiet and let the palestinians get on their way till the war of 82.....enough with your blindness unless you are an ignorant ...how old are u anyway?

Thumb benzona 08 September 2013, 20:37

Mais non! He destroyed the evidence with the heavy shelling the next day he sprayed them with Sarin.

Ya latif.

الله يلعن بشار & نصر الله

Thumb lebanon_first 08 September 2013, 20:40

Your sayyed Hassan is merely a small Iranian employee who has to follow orders.
Your Assad is a world class criminal who took up where Stalin and Hitler left off.
General Aoun is a patriot.

Missing hb9z 08 September 2013, 20:41

shut up non-patriotic.....yes GOD bless the murderer bashar for killing the lebanese and the syrian people....

Thumb Machia 08 September 2013, 20:44

Assad is nothing else but a killer in a suit. He has killed so many of his own people...so many. He is not capable of governing his own country. If he had a fickle of honour, he would have stepped down but he is nothing but a leaching thief.

Thumb bustany 08 September 2013, 22:11

Sure Assad step down and let the Saudi-culture take over man. You know these Saudi are so human. The minorities under their rules will flourish. Women will be powerful. Children will have free education and rape will be a word of the past

Thumb Machia 08 September 2013, 20:47

And you think you are a pretty patriotic-lebanese in this avatar? More like an ugly bearded worshiper of death.

Thumb benzona 08 September 2013, 20:54

Machia, she's pretty. I'm still waiting for her mobile number!

Thumb general_puppet 08 September 2013, 20:56

Assad is loved my millions of Lebanese???... you are pathetic!

Thumb Machia 08 September 2013, 20:56

And btw the Avatar is not Leonardo's. In real life you might be strikingly beautiful but apparently not incredibly bright...my avatar has a name and it is the one I am using.

Thumb Machia 08 September 2013, 21:04

hahahahaha! bright as a bulb!

Thumb benzona 08 September 2013, 21:04

Wow, a girl who watches football. The perfect woman !

Thumb Machia 08 September 2013, 21:10

I bet he knows his football players too:

Wikileaks source, "Bradley Manning said she had felt female since childhood, asked to be known as Chelsea, and expressed a desire to undergo hormone replacement therapy." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradley_Manning

Thumb benzona 08 September 2013, 21:17

I saw this manning guy on CNN, I think it's a trick to get a lighter sentence. No one can blame him for trying.

Thumb general_puppet 08 September 2013, 21:01

Assad like his counter part in Lebanon Nasrallah are only stooges of the Iranian regime. They both do a lot of talking but when war comes they both hide in the safety of their of their bunkers.

Thumb Machia 08 September 2013, 21:02

You should take out Aoun from your list and add Stalin and Hitler, Saddam and Khomeini, Pol-Pot and Ceausescu...They are the kind of real winners you worship. #ilovedespoticmurders

Thumb benzona 08 September 2013, 21:02

Yalla, shoot the number.

03 or the 'new' 7 something?

Yalla Yalla, I can't wait anymore! I'm coming to Lebanon. I think the fastest is to get on a tomahawk. It won't take 4 hours as it usually does ;-)

Thumb benzona 08 September 2013, 21:16

It's your lucky day, I'm not Zionist.

Where is the transit zone for tomahawk flights? Is it in Inçirlik or over Cyprus? I wanted a direct flight though. Tough luck. Chou bjiblik min Europa? Chocolate or flowers? I have lots of roses in my garden ;-p

Default-user-icon Truth (Guest) 08 September 2013, 21:22

No conclusive evidence you killed Kamal Joumblat, Bechir Gemayel, Rene Moawad, helped Hizbollah kill Hariri, Gemayel, Tueini, etc.. No conclusive evidence when you are the perpetrator of filthy crimes. But it takes three minutes when you are on the receiving end yourself, and hardly any longer to send people hanging down a rope ! No Basho , this time you won't get off the hook, and will get a taste of your own medicine ya Dactorr !

Thumb benzona 08 September 2013, 21:31

Ciao ciao ya Helweh. Going to bed too. I'll be thinking of you tonight.

Arf!

Thumb Maxx 08 September 2013, 21:39

I'm sure you were as well.

Thumb bustany 08 September 2013, 22:08

Obama should support Assad. He and the west reading all of this from Israeli point of view. Its for the best interest of USA and the free world to support Assad

Missing helicopter 09 September 2013, 01:05

Dictators and Takfiris must both go ..... this is the 21at Century. Let the nations rise and people prosper, enough is enough.

Thumb bustany 08 September 2013, 22:19

They asked Jesus once, from their fruits you recognize them. Family of Saud governed Saudi and most Arabs for 200 years. Today, you remove the oil, whole kingdom goes back to Camels. Assad giverned Syria for 40 years, despite the sanctions for 40 years thanks to Saudis, Syria can survive forever with all the conspiracies

Thumb primesuspect 08 September 2013, 23:23

why do u compare incomparable things? it's like comparing Nicaragua to Venezuela.... sure we speak the same language and have the same religion.... but who cares dude!

you said: Today, you remove the oil, whole kingdom goes back to Camels.

I say: if internet hadn't been democratized you'd be selling salads at the local market.

KSA is slowly but surely improving the country at its own pace. BTW, we don't care about KSA nor Syria. they're both foreign nations.

Missing helicopter 09 September 2013, 01:13

Lebanon wass rich and Assad siphoned its wealth ..... this more than made up for the sanctions (criminal and thief)

Thumb cityboy 08 September 2013, 22:31

if you think southern and FT are the same person then you need some serious learning how to identify writing style.

Missing samiam 08 September 2013, 22:36

you want God to bless a killer of ten's of thousands

God have mercy on your soul and send his to eternal damnation.

Missing samiam 08 September 2013, 22:48

LAU--that explains a lot.

their motto should be "we give an education through indoctrination"

do yourself a favor and start thinking on your own instead of what your hizb iran masters have told you.

Missing helicopter 09 September 2013, 01:08

Like many of your colleagues it is all about FORCING for the likes of you.,

Missing helicopter 09 September 2013, 01:09

Is that what happened to you unpatriotic-lebanese.

Missing helicopter 09 September 2013, 01:11

Hopefully you are smarter in real life, because beauty without brain is like an empty suit

Missing hb9z 09 September 2013, 01:11

what a statesman this hafez.......yes when u have nothing then you get something its great achievement....you need to look at the literacy rate in syria and compare to lets say neighbouring countries, per wikipedia , syria has 79% , saudi 86%,lebanon 87%, turkey 95% and jordan 93% and this was before this war....

Thumb scorpyonn 09 September 2013, 05:14

You are patriotic to everything that is harmful to your country you imbecile.

Thumb scorpyonn 09 September 2013, 05:16

... and fools like you flourish among us to allow us.

Missing VINCENT 09 September 2013, 07:14

I said this before. In the eyes of Iran, this civil was having lasted two years already, Assad has already being deemed a failure. If I am reading between the lines correctly, in my humble opinion, Assad is saying that "he did not give the order". I believe that Iran gave the orders which is consistent with a phone call that Germany allegedly intercepted between an Assad regime high ranking Officer and a counterpart overseeing the C.W. facility frantically asking questions. Also, Russia's and China's position to support Assad's regime is more consistent with protecting Iran's ultimate goal in the region for all these players collectively and not just Syria.