President al-Assad’s interview with Fox News (Part 1)

President Bashar al-Assad gave an interview to Fox News:

Following is the first part of the interview conducted on Tuesday by Former U.S. Congressman Dennis Kucinich and Journalist Greg Palkot:

Fox News: Hello Mr. President, thank you very much for providing Fox News with this opportunity for an interview. I’m joined by my colleague, reporter Greg Palkot, and we’re very interested in proceeding. As you know, there’s been a number of breaking stories which we need to discuss with you. The UN has just released its chemical weapon report. My colleague Greg Palkot will be discussing that with you in a moment. I want to talk to you about other major developments regarding the chemical weapons plan, which has been agreed to by the US and the Russian government. Do you agree with this plan to secure and to eventually destroy the chemical weapons?

Syria joined the international agreement of preventing chemical WMDs

President Assad: Last week we joined the international agreement of preventing chemical WMDs, and part of this agreement, the main part, is to not to manufacture these armaments, not to store, and not to use, and of course not to distribute, and part of it is to get rid of those materials, the chemical materials. Of course, when we are part now of this agreement, we have to agree on that chapter.

Fox News: You have to agree on…?

President Assad: On getting rid of all these armaments, I mean to destroy them.

Fox News: Why do you agree now?

President Assad: No, actually it’s not now. If you go back ten years ago, when we were a non-permanent member of the Security Council in 2003, we proposed to the United Nations, to the Security Council, a Syrian proposal to get rid of the WMDs from the Middle East, to have chemical-free zone or WMD-free zone in the Middle East. And actually, the United States opposed that proposal, so as conviction, we wanted to see our region free of WMDs, all kinds of WMDs because it’s a very volatile region, it’s always on the verge of anarchy and wars, so that’s why we don’t say that we agreed now.

Fox News: We know that President Obama and Secretary Kerry have said in the past that you were lying – that’s their word, not mine – when you said that you didn’t have any chemical weapons. A few days ago, in an interview with Russia Channel 24 you admitted you had chemical weapon stockpiles. Now, I just want to make sure we’re clear before we go forward: do you or do you not have chemical weapons?

President Assad: First of all, regarding what Obama and Kerry said, I dare them to say that we said “no” once. We never said it. We never said no, we never said yes, but we always say it’s a classified issue, we don’t have to discuss it, and if we want to talk about it, we say “if” and “if” means you may have it, you may not. So, this is a blatant lie.

Fox News: Okay, but can you tell us now? Do you have chemical weapons or don’t you?

President Assad: Of course, when we joined the treaty last week, it means that we have, and we said that, so it’s not secret anymore.

Fox News: So, as far as the American people, you will agree that you do have a stockpile of chemical weapons?

President Assad: That’s why we joined the international agreement, in order to get rid of them.

Fox News: My former colleagues in Capitol Hill are sceptical about your agreement with this plan. They say it’s just a stalling tactic. Is it?

President Assad: A stalling tactic? To join the agreement?

Fox News: That you’re stalling right now for time, and that you really don’t have any intention of going along with the plan. Are you stalling?

President Assad: When you join the agreement, you have a mechanism, and you have to obey this mechanism, and according to the history of Syria, we never made an agreement with any party in this world and we didn’t fulfil what we have to do or our role in that agreement, never.

Fox News: So you would say that President Obama then can trust you to follow through?

President Assad: I don’t think that President Obama should trust me; first, the Syrian people should trust me, not President Obama. Second, when you talk about agreements and the international relations, you have mechanisms, and those mechanisms should be based on objective criteria, so if you want to trust or not trust, watch this country, see if they obey those mechanisms and those rules or not. This is where you can trust them or not. It’s not a personal relation.

Fox News: I understand. So, you’re under a tight time deadline. Are you going to be able to provide the list that is part of the agreement, a list of chemical weapons?

President Assad: It is a part. You should provide a list of the arsenal you have to the organization of chemical weapons.

Fox News: And are you ready to open chemical weapons sites to international inspection?

President Assad: We didn’t say that we are joining partially that agreement or that organization; we joined fully. We sent the letter, we sent the document, and you are committed to the full requirements of this agreement.

Fox News: Would you be ready to let our Fox News cameras have access to some of the chemical weapons sites so that the American people can see for themselves? Is that possible?

President Assad: In Syria we have institutions, we have rules, we have conditions, so we have to go back to these institutions to ask them for that request, and after they study the request, they can say yes or no, but it’s not about the President to take that decision alone. So, we have institutions, and you can do that after this interview, you can ask for permission.

Fox News: Can you destroy these chemical weapons quickly, and if not, why not?

President Assad: I think it’s a very complicated operation technically, and it needs a lot of money, some estimated about a billion for the Syrian stockpile. We’re not experts in that regard, but that’s the estimate that we’ve had recently. So, you have to ask the experts what do they mean by “quickly” because this has a certain schedule, it needs a year, maybe a little bit less or a little bit more. So, what do you mean by “quickly”?

Fox News: Since it’s the United States that demanded you give up chemical weapons, would you be prepared to turn over your chemical weapons to the US government for the purposes of safely destroying those weapons?

President Assad: As I said, it needs a lot of money, it needs about one billion, and it’s very detrimental to the environment. If the American administration is ready to pay this money and to take responsibility of bringing toxic materials to the United States, why don’t they do it? But of course it is going to be in cooperation a specified organization in the United Nations.

Fox News: But you’re prepared to hand them over at some point for the safe destruction of them?

President Assad: It doesn’t matter where. As I said, in the end, if you’re going to destroy them, it doesn’t matter where they go.

Fox News: Are there any conditions?

President Assad: No, we don’t have any conditions. Send it anywhere. In the end, if they’re going to be destroyed, they could be destroyed anywhere. As I said, it’s very detrimental to the environment, so whichever country is ready to take risk of these materials let them take it.

Fox News: Do you have a security agreement with the Russian government that, if and when you give up your chemical weapons, that you, in fact, will be protected so that you’re not vulnerable to attacks? Because we know there are other nations which gave up their weapons then they were attacked.

The Russian role, politically, was very efficient during the crisis in Syria

President Assad: You know, the Russian role, politically, was very efficient during the crisis in Syria, during the last two years and a half, and they vetoed three times in the Security Council, so actually they protected Syria politically. They don’t have to have a security agreement with Syria regarding this. It’s not only about the army and the war; it’s about politics. So, I think they are doing their job without having this agreement.

Fox News: So, just so summarize, you do have chemical weapons, you’re prepared to go along with the plan to destroy them, and that you’re prepared to cooperate with the international community in that.

President Assad: Again, as I said, what you mentioned all are part of the international agreement, and when we agreed to join this agreement we wanted to fully cooperate with this agreement, not partially. I think this is very clear.

Fox News: Greg?

Fox News: Thank you, Dennis. Mr. President, this is so important, let me just follow up on just one or two points then move on. Again, no conditions; you will agree to this plan to destroy your chemical weapons. You had put conditions on this in the past, in the past week or so. No conditions?

President Assad: The only conditions that the agreement will entail, propose and provide. So, now we are going to discuss the details with the international organization, so I don’t have all the details to discuss it with you now, and I’m not the expert; we have specialized people to discuss the details. But in general, as headlines, whenever we join an agreement, as Syria, we are always committed to those agreements.

Fox News: You problem was that there was a threat of force coming from the United States, there’s still discussion of the so-called Chapter Seven resolution being put forward to the UN which would include the possibility of force. Would that be a deal-breaker for you if that went forward?

President Assad: What is the deal-breaker?

Fox News: Chapter Seven resolution in the UN which allows bodies in the UN to use force if you’re not complying.

President Assad: There’s a misunderstanding that we agreed upon this agreement because of the American threat. Actually, if you go back before the G20, before the proposal of this Russian initiative, the American threat wasn’t about handing over the chemical arsenal; it was about attacking Syria in order not to use the arsenal again. So, it’s not about the threat. Syria never obeyed any threat. Actually, we responded to the Russian initiative and to our needs and to our conviction. So, whether they have Chapter Seven or don’t have Chapter Seven, this is politics between the great countries.

Fox News: So that’s irrelevant to you?

President Assad: No, no, irrelevant. We obeyed because we want to obey, we have completely different incentives.

Fox News: And again that timeframe which Dennis mentioned, one week to come up with a full account of your chemical weapons, November for the first inspectors to come in, mid 2014 for all your chemical weapons to be destroyed; that’s an ambitious timetable even by expert standards, but you think that is doable?

President Assad: Yeah, but we have to discuss these details with the organization first, this is first. Second, the time is not our problem; it is the problem of the organization, how much time do they need to implement this agreement.

Fox News: You don’t necessarily sign on to that time limit?

President Assad: No, no. The only thing we have to do is provide the information, and to make them accessible to our sites, which is not a problem. We can do it tomorrow, we don’t have any problem.

Fox News: You could do it tomorrow?

President Assad: Yeah, of course. We don’t have a problem. The problem is how fast they can be in getting rid of any chemical material, because this is a very complicated situation. It’s not about will; it’s about techniques. So, only experts can answer your question.

Fox News: Which leads to my last question on Dennis’s topic and that’s exactly what some people are saying, that this is just a ruse, just a game, because it is so difficult. Experts say it will be so difficult to get rid of these chemical weapons, especially in a war situation like this. This is indeed buying you a lot of time.

President Assad: Even if you don’t have war, it is difficult. Even if you have all the requirements afforded by every party, it takes time to get rid of them.

Fox News: So you’re saying this could take years?

President Assad: As I said we don’t have experience in that regard, but some say it takes one year. I didn’t say years. As I heard it takes about one year, maybe a little bit less, a little bit more. But at the end we have to see the experts, and they will tell us.

Fox News: Let’s go on to the latest breaking news. There’s a lot of breaking news in this region right now, and that’s the just-released UN report on the chemical weapon attack last month in the outskirts of Damascus right now. According to this report, and this is the report you said you were waiting for. You said you didn’t want to hear the US, you didn’t want to hear the UK, you didn’t want to hear France, you want the UN to speak, and they have spoken, and they have said and I quote “there’s clear and convincing evidence that the nerve gas Sarin has been used”, and they base this on environmental, chemical, medical samples, they say the killing happened on a relatively large scale, that killing included children. Do you agree with this assessment?

President Assad: They have the samples, and they’re supposed to be objective. We didn’t have any formal report, but the question is if I agree about the use of Sarin gas.

Fox News: No, do you agree with the assessment that a chemical weapon attack occurred on the outskirts of Damascus on August 21st?

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President Assad: That’s the information that we have, but information is different from evidence.

Fox News: It’s different. You disagree with the UN report?

President Assad: No, no, I don’t disagree. You have to wait till you have evidence. You can agree or disagree when you have evidence.

Fox News: They have the evidence. They’ve interviewed 40-50 people on the ground.

President Assad: Yeah, we have to discuss the evidence with them. We have to discuss it with them because they are coming back; they haven’t finished their mission yet. They are going back, and we have to discuss it with them, we have to see the details, but we cannot disagree without having the opposite evidence. So, nobody said that it was not used, because in March, we invited the delegation to Syria because Sarin gas was used in March. We have the evidence that it was used in March in Aleppo. So, when I talk as an official, I can talk about the evidence that I have.

Fox News: Okay, but they put out a 38-page report; I mean it’s been posted since yesterday. I don’t know whether you’ve had a chance to look at it.

President Assad: No, not yet. We have to look at it, we have to discuss it before saying we agree or disagree. It’s only yesterday evening.

Fox News: Let’s go hypothetical then. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said that this is in fact a war crime, that it is despicable, and that it is a grave violation of international law. If that event happened as they say it did happen, would it be despicable, would it be a violation of international law?

President Assad: That is self-evident of course.

Fox News: Self-evident.

President Assad: Of course, that’s self-evident, it is despicable, and it’s a crime.

Fox News: Because I’m sure you’ve seen the videos that we have seen of the child gagging on the ground, of the people vomiting on the floor.

President Assad: Yeah, but no-one has verified the credibility of the videos and the pictures. No one verified them. The only verified things are the samples that the delegation went and took; samples of blood and other things from the soil and so on.

Fox News: Which is what they say they have.

President Assad: But you cannot build a report on videos if they are not verified, especially since we lived in a world of forgery for the last two years and a half regarding Syria. We have a lot of forgery on the internet.