Russia Sez Hagel’s Chemical Weapons Claim a “Blatant Lie”… Pentagon Backtracks

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Russian military experts dismissed US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel‘s allegations about Russia supplying chemical weapons to Syria. Igor Korotchenko, a member of the Public Council of the Minoborony and the chief editor of Национальная оборона (Natsionalnaya oborona: National Defence) magazine, said, “The Pentagon chief’s statement is a blatant lie like the notorious test tubes with anthrax from the arsenal of Saddam Hussein that then-US Secretary of State Colin Powell shook in the Security Council“. Apparently, Korotchenko was referring to an incident in 2003 when Powell demonstrated a model test tube of anthrax to show the supposed power of the Iraqi régime’s biological weapons. However, an American-led survey was unable to locate WMD stockpiles in Iraq. Korotchenko said, “The USA has powerful and effective special services, and Hagel could’ve turned to them to get comprehensive information that the Russian Federation never supplied weapons of mass destruction to anyone, even to its closest allies”.

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US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel perked up some ears at today’s House Foreign Affairs hearing on Syria with a brief exchange in which he said that Russia supplied chemical weapons to Syria. It all happened in an exchange with Representative Joe Wilson (R-SC), during which Hagel said that it’s no secret that the Assad régime has significant stockpiles of chemical weapons. When Wilson asked where they’d come from, Hagel said, “Well, the Russians supply them. Others are supplying them with those chemical weapons. They make some themselves”. After the hearing concluded, Pentagon Press Secretary George Little issued a clarification, explaining that Hagel was referring to the “well-known conventional arms relationship between Syria and Russia”. He also pointed up that Syria had a “decades-old largely indigenous chemical weapons programme”. He added that some Russian military equipment and support could be modified to support Syria’s chemical weapons programme.

Here’s the full text of Little’s statement:

In a response to a member of Congress, Secretary Hagel was referring to the well-known conventional arms relationship between Syria and Russia. The Syrian régime has a decades-old largely indigenous chemical weapons programme. Currently, Russia provides the Syrian régime a wide variety of military equipment and support, some of which can be modified or otherwise used to support the chemical weapons program. We’ve publicly and privately expressed our concern over the destabilising impact on the Syrian conflict and the wider region of continued military shipments to the Assad régime.

5 September 2013 (MSK)

Voice of Russia World Service

http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2013_09_05/Russia-says-Hagels-chemical-weapons-claim-a-blatant-law-8900/

http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2013_09_05/Pentagon-clarifies-US-Defense-Secretary-s-comments-that-Russia-sent-chemical-weapons-to-Syria-5358/

Editor’s Note:

The two biggest tub-thumpers for war in Syria are Chuck Hagel and John Kerry… the first is a “Libertarian” Republican, the second is a Centrist Democrat. This shows that Obama‘s a Centrist, not a leftist at all. People such as Rush Limbaugh who call Obama a “socialist” show their invincible ignorance, bullheaded stupidity, provincial rudeness, and lack of general exposure to the world outside of the USA. Obama’s no more a socialist than Wet Willy Romney is… mind you, he’s better than any of the Republicans (who’d kiss the naked arses of the Evangelical yahoo oddbods if they gained power now) out there, but this warmongering, and the supporters that it’s garnered, show that Leftists have to oppose the Prez on this one. Shitbirds of a feather flock together…

BMD