Charlie Rose, Assad Interview: ‘I Knew Nothing About Chemical Weapons Attack’

Charlie Rose conducted an interview with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad today in Damascus, Syria’s capital. The interview was announced by CBS News’ Bob Schieffer on the Face the Nation show.

The Charlie Rose Show will air the full Assad interview on Monday night. This coincides with interviews recorded by President Obama for six different networks, which will also air Monday.

Rose spoke to Schieffer on air prior to the interview, telling him that Assad: “denied that he had anything to do with the (chemical) attack.”

He met with the controversial Syrian leader at the presidential palace, accompanied by the president of CBS News, Jeff Fager. It’s just as well that Charlie Rose is traveling accompanied, as 28 reporters were killed in Syria in 2012 alone.

President Assad told Rose that he had nothing to do with the chemical attack on the outskirts of Damascus which killed 1,400 Syrian civilians, many of them children.

Although Charlie Rose did confirm in the interview with Assad that the president: “… does accept some of the responsibility” for that attack. He asked Assad “do you feel any remorse?” Assad responded “of course I do.”

Rose continued to talk about the message Assad had for the American people, especially in light of a potential upcoming attack on sovereign Syrian soil: “He had a message to the American people that it had not been a good experience for them to get involved in the Middle East in wars and conflicts… that the results had not been good.”

It is not yet clear whether or not the United States, and her allies, will carry out a retaliatory attack on Syrian as a result of the chemical weapons attack on its own citizens.