L
LequteMan
Guest
As United Nations weapons inspectors prepare to inspect the site of a claimed chemical attack in Syria today, President Bashar al-Assad has denied once more that his forces used poison gas against his own citizens, while divisions between outside powers over how to handle the crisis seemed to show no signs of easing.
In an interview with the Russian newspaper Izvestia, Mr. Assad said accusations that his forces used chemical weapons were illogical and an “insult to common sense”. He warned the United States that military intervention in his country would bring “failure just like in all the previous wars they waged, starting with Vietnam and up to our days.”
In the interview with Izvestia, Mr. Assad was quoted as saying, “America has taken part in many wars but could not once achieve its political goals for which the wars were started. Yes, it is true, the great powers can wage wars but can they win them?”
He said government troops would have risked killing their own forces if they had used chemical weapons. “This contradicts elementary logic,” news reports quoted him as saying. It is “not us but our enemies who are using chemical weapons,” he said, referring to antigovernment rebels as “the terrorists.”
While Mr. Assad has reportedly given weapons inspectors access to the site of the attack, the West greeted the offer with skepticism, saying it came too late for inspectors to make an accurate assessment of what happened.
For his part, President Obama has not decided to take action, officials in Washington said on Sunday, but moving a step closer to possible American military involvement in Syria.
