Syria accuses US of chemical weapons propaganda
SYRIA: The US wants to oust the Damascus regime by raising
fears overs its chemical weapons stockpiles, creating a scenario similar
to that which led to the invasion of Iraq, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid
Muallem said in an interview broadcast Monday.
“This issue (chemical weapons) is an invention of the American
administration,” Muallem told Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen TV in excerpts of
an interview to be broadcast in full later Monday.
But Muallem remained vague on whether President Bashar al-Assad’s
regime possesses chemical weapons, despite Damascus acknowledging in
July that it has such stockpiles. “These chemical weapons in Syria, if
they exist -- and I emphasise if -- how is it possible that we would use
them against our own people? It’s a joke,” he said in the interview
excerpts of which were broadcast by the staunchly anti-American and
anti-Israeli channel.
“But this definitely does not mean that Syria has a stockpile of
chemical weapons or that it intends to use these weapons against its own
people ... it is a myth they invented to launch a campaign against Syria
like they did in Iraq,” he said in the interview given on the sidelines
of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York.
A US-led coalition had invaded Iraq in March 2003, accusing Saddam
Hussein of possessing weapons of mass destruction. No such weapons were
ever found.
Damascus acknowledged for the first time in late July that it
possessed chemical weapons. It threatened to use them if attacked by
outside countries, but never against its own people.
AFP
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