RUSSIA SLAMS U.S. FOR WHITEWASHING TERRORISM IN SYRIA

Victims: From left, Daoud Rajha, Syria’s defense minister; Asef Shawkat, President Bashar al-Assad’s brother-in-law; and Hassan Turkmani, assistant vice president, were killed on Wednesday in a suicide bombing in Damascus. The interior minister, Mohamed Ibrahim al-Sha’ar(R), was injured.  Photo by Reuters

MATHABA

July 25, 2012

MOSCOW

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday that the U.S. position over the Damascus bombing that killed several top Syrian officials was "a direct whitewashing of terrorism."

The comment was made in response to U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland's remarks that the attacks on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's top officials were "not surprising."

"This is a direct justification of terrorism. How should one understand that?" Lavrov told reporters.

In a July 18 suicide bombing attack, Syrian Defense Minister Dawood Rajha was killed along with three other senior officials, including Rajha's deputy, Assef Shawkat, who was also al-Assad's brother-in-law.

The Russian top diplomat said he was surprised that the U.N. Security Council failed to condemn the attack, which Moscow termed as an "act of terror" and demanded the arrest and punishment of those responsible.

He also criticized Susan Rice, the U.S. envoy to the UN, who said that the Damascus bombing called for enforcement of the UN Charter chapter that sanctions the use of force.

"This is a terrible position, all in all. I can't even find words to express our attitude to that," Lavrov said.

Last week, Russia and China vetoed another Western-proposed draft resolution that threatened non-military sanctions if Syria failed to withdraw troops and heavy weapons from populated areas.

Lavrov said that, according to information available, Syrian opposition groups linked to al-Qaeda have seized several checkpoints on the border with Turkey and looted Turkish property.

"We double-check it now. If the seizure of territories is being supported by our partners, we'd like to demand an answer: What is their position on Syria, and what they attain in that country, in the end of the day," Lavrov said.

USA OFFICIALLY SUPPORTS SUICIDE BOMBINGS

WASHINGTON, July 25 (Xinhua) ~ The United States did condemn the July 18 suicide bombing in the Syrian capital of Damascus, but it is wrong to draw the implication that those targeted were innocents, the State Department (USA Foreign Ministry) said on Wednesday.

Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland was responding to allegations by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that the U.S. position over the Damascus bombing that killed several top Syrian officials was "a direct justification of terrorism."

WESTERN NEWS MEDIA CONTINUES TO MISLEAD PUBLIC

The BBC in its coverage of past UN resolutions has given air time to the positions voiced by U.S. foreign minister Hilary Clinton, while shutting out Russia's foreign minister who had, as the rest of the world, a very different interpretation of events.

Clinton, a lawyer, also praised the brutal murder of an old man near Sirte in Libya in full view of cameras, an untenable position for any lawyer. She has not been disbarred nor have lawyers criticized her, principled ones such as Lyn Stewart already having been jailed.