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Assad Tells Kucinich Chemical Weapons ‘Not a Secret Anymore’ During...Fox Interview (updated 2x)
Assad Tells Kucinich Chemical Weapons ‘Not a Secret Anymore’ During Wide-Ranging Fox Interview
by Matt Wilstein
In what has to be one of the strangest and most unexpected interviews in cable news history, Fox News sent former Democratic congressman Dennis Kucinich to Syria this week to interview Bashar al-Assad about the potential peace deal that could avert military strikes by the United States in his country. During the first part of the hour-long interview, Assad admitted to Kucinich that his regime does possess chemical weapon stockpiles and affirmed his agreement to join the Chemical Weapons Convention and destroy those stockpiles.
Kucinich was joined by Fox senior foreign-affairs correspondent Greg Palkot, but as Bret Baier read in a statement introducing the interview, the former congressman “was not there in the capacity of a journalist nor was he representing Fox News in that role.” Kucinich began by asking if Assad “agrees” with the plan to “secure and to eventually destroy the chemical weapons.”...He argued that his regime has always been in favor of a chemical weapons-free Middle East “because it is a very volatile region. It’s always on the verge of an anarchy and war.”
Kucinich did not push back on these assertions, but rather moved on to accusations from President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry that Assad was “lying” in the past when he claimed not have chemical weapons. Assad now claimed that he never said Syria didn’t have chemical weapons, but rather had refused to confirm one way or the other. “Regarding what Obama and Kerry said, I dare them to say that we said no once,” he said. “We never said it. We never said no, we never said yes… This is a blatant lie.”
Assad added that it’s “not a secret anymore” since they joined the treaty and agreed to destroy the weapons. He also pushed back on the notion that the agreement is a “stalling tactic,” but at the same time said President Obama should not “trust” him on his statement, but rather the “Syrian people should trust me.”
- more -
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/watch-assad-tells-kucinich-syrias-chemical-weapons-not-a-secret-anymore-during-fox-interview/
by Matt Wilstein
In what has to be one of the strangest and most unexpected interviews in cable news history, Fox News sent former Democratic congressman Dennis Kucinich to Syria this week to interview Bashar al-Assad about the potential peace deal that could avert military strikes by the United States in his country. During the first part of the hour-long interview, Assad admitted to Kucinich that his regime does possess chemical weapon stockpiles and affirmed his agreement to join the Chemical Weapons Convention and destroy those stockpiles.
Kucinich was joined by Fox senior foreign-affairs correspondent Greg Palkot, but as Bret Baier read in a statement introducing the interview, the former congressman “was not there in the capacity of a journalist nor was he representing Fox News in that role.” Kucinich began by asking if Assad “agrees” with the plan to “secure and to eventually destroy the chemical weapons.”...He argued that his regime has always been in favor of a chemical weapons-free Middle East “because it is a very volatile region. It’s always on the verge of an anarchy and war.”
Kucinich did not push back on these assertions, but rather moved on to accusations from President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry that Assad was “lying” in the past when he claimed not have chemical weapons. Assad now claimed that he never said Syria didn’t have chemical weapons, but rather had refused to confirm one way or the other. “Regarding what Obama and Kerry said, I dare them to say that we said no once,” he said. “We never said it. We never said no, we never said yes… This is a blatant lie.”
Assad added that it’s “not a secret anymore” since they joined the treaty and agreed to destroy the weapons. He also pushed back on the notion that the agreement is a “stalling tactic,” but at the same time said President Obama should not “trust” him on his statement, but rather the “Syrian people should trust me.”
- more -
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/watch-assad-tells-kucinich-syrias-chemical-weapons-not-a-secret-anymore-during-fox-interview/
Assad admitted to bombing area after chemical attack took place.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023637203
Updated to add:
Assad: We didn't bow to US threats
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad insisted Wednesday that his decision to destroy his stockpiles of chemical weapons was not forced upon him by the threat of US strikes.
"Yeah, there's a misunderstanding that we agreed with this agreement because of the Americans," he told US network Fox News.
"Actually, if you go back before the G20, before the proposal, the Russians, it wasn't about handing over the chemical arsenal," he said, referring to a Russian offer to oversee his disarmament.
"It was about attacking Syria in order not to use the arsenal again," he said, in reference to US President Barack Obama's call for a punitive strike against his regime.
- more -
http://news.yahoo.com/assad-didnt-bow-us-threats-230524128.html
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad insisted Wednesday that his decision to destroy his stockpiles of chemical weapons was not forced upon him by the threat of US strikes.
"Yeah, there's a misunderstanding that we agreed with this agreement because of the Americans," he told US network Fox News.
"Actually, if you go back before the G20, before the proposal, the Russians, it wasn't about handing over the chemical arsenal," he said, referring to a Russian offer to oversee his disarmament.
"It was about attacking Syria in order not to use the arsenal again," he said, in reference to US President Barack Obama's call for a punitive strike against his regime.
- more -
http://news.yahoo.com/assad-didnt-bow-us-threats-230524128.html
Keep talking.
Update 2:
Syria Releases Video of Fox News Interview With Assad
By ROBERT MACKEY
President Bashar al-Assad’s office, which promoted his “television dialogue” with the Fox News contributor Dennis Kucinich online before the channel even acknowledged that it had taken place, posted video of the complete interview on its YouTube channel as soon as the broadcast began Wednesday night.
<...>
At one point, Mr. Assad defended the use of force to put down the uprising against his rule, which has led to tens of thousands of deaths, by comparing it to the use of soldiers and Marines to quell rioting in Los Angeles in 1992. “What did you do in Los Angeles in the ’90s, when you had rebels?” he said. “Didn’t you send your army? You did.”
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/18/syria-releases-video-of-fox-news-interview-with-assad/
By ROBERT MACKEY
President Bashar al-Assad’s office, which promoted his “television dialogue” with the Fox News contributor Dennis Kucinich online before the channel even acknowledged that it had taken place, posted video of the complete interview on its YouTube channel as soon as the broadcast began Wednesday night.
<...>
At one point, Mr. Assad defended the use of force to put down the uprising against his rule, which has led to tens of thousands of deaths, by comparing it to the use of soldiers and Marines to quell rioting in Los Angeles in 1992. “What did you do in Los Angeles in the ’90s, when you had rebels?” he said. “Didn’t you send your army? You did.”
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/18/syria-releases-video-of-fox-news-interview-with-assad/
8 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
Kissy-Kissy! 
