Daesh, anti-Assad death squad trained by Washington: Analyst

Press TV has interviewed Stephen Lendman, an author and radio host in Chicago, to discuss Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s recent remarks concerning the war on Syria.

Following is a rough transcription.

Press TV: Give us your thoughts on the recent comments made by the Iranian President Hassan Rouhani about ruling out foreign intervention in resolving the Syrian conflict and stressing that the fate of Syria was in the hands of Syrians themselves.

Lendman: I absolutely agree with President Rouhani and international law is very clear on this: No nations may interfere in the international affairs of others for any reason at all except self-defense if they are attacked. Well, Syria is the country being attacked. Syria did not attack another country, it doesn’t threaten another country, there is no evidence of anything in that regard. So what is going on in Syria is foreign interference and there is no question that the terrorists- ISIL and al-Qaeda and the others  are US-trained and imported death squads against the Assad government to oust it and replace it with a pro-Western puppet regime and this absolutely must stop.

We saw it in several other countries, we see it in Syria; if it is not stopped it will simply move on from one country to another, continued war, endless war ravaging one country after another and killing millions of people. That is the American agenda. That is what has to be stopped.

Press TV: In the recent press conference held in Tehran, President Rouhani also spoke about the issue of extremism and terrorism and how it can bring about instability, not only in the region but also in the entire world. He added that it requires collective efforts to combat terrorism and extremism.

Lendman: Absolutely. I think it begins at the grassroots. I like to see ordinary people in Western countries mainly, because that is the nexus of the problem… ordinary people get so fed up with these endless wars, with the resources of these nations, beginning with America, devoted for wars and killings instead of using those resources for peace and stability and serving internal needs and the things that ordinary people need, benefiting ordinary people instead of harming them.

But it will never happen  if ordinary people don’t rise up and demand something different and even then it will be a long struggle to see any kind of a change take place but if this is not done these wars will continue endlessly and my greatest fear is that we will end up with another World War that could be with nuclear weapons and that could be devastation for the entire planet.

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