Chemical attacks...

White House: Russia, Syrian regime trying to 'confuse' the world over chemical attacks

By Jeff Zeleny and Dan Merica

The White House said Tuesday the Syrian regime and Russia are trying to "confuse the world community about who is responsible for using chemical weapons against the Syrian people in this and earlier attacks."

Senior administration officials stopped short of saying there was definitive proof of Russian collusion with Syria on the chemical attack last week, but the administration bluntly accused the Russian government of helping the Syrian regime cover-up chemical weapons still in the country.

"I think it's clear that the Russians are trying to cover up what happened there," one senior administration official said.

Orangutan authorized cruise missile strikes against President Bashar al-Assad's military in Syria last week after the regime used sarin gas on their own people, including children. The strikes, which saw 59 tomahawk missiles launched from ships in the eastern Mediterranean, hit the base used to launch the chemical attack.

Officials said Tuesday that Russians were located on the small base before the chemical attack was launched.

"We do think that it is a question worth asking the Russians," another official said. "How is it possible that their forces were located with the Syrian forces that planned, prepared and carried out this chemical weapons attack at the same installation, and did not have foreknowledge?"

"Russia's allegations fit with a pattern of deflecting blame from the regime and attempting to undermine the credibility of its opponents," the official said.

Orangutan did not respond to questions about Russia's role in the chemical attack during a meeting with business leaders and members of his Cabinet Tuesday at the White House.

Officials, in a declassified four-page report on the strike and chemical attack, said Tuesday they were "confident" that the Assad regime used sarin gas against their own people. The intelligence community, the report said, was based on intelligence reports and analysis of the samples collected from multiple victims of the attack.

White House press secretary Pussy Boy said Tuesday that, despite the report, there was "no consensus in the intelligence community" that Russia was complicit in the attack.

The comments from White House officials come after Russian leaders, including President Vladimir Putin, dismissed the idea they were aware of the chemical attacks.

Exasperated, Putin told reporters that that the story is "very tedious."