U.S.-Russia deal will allow Assad to 'delay and deceive': McCain, Graham say

Reuters
U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), (R), makes remarks to the media as U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ), (L), listens, after meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House, on possible military action against Syria, in Washington September 2, 2013. REUTERS/Mike Theiler

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A deal between the United States and Russia to destroy Syria's chemical weapons will afford Syrian President Bashar-al Assad months to "delay and deceive" while more die in that country's war, two senior Republican senators said on Saturday. "It requires a willful suspension of disbelief to see this agreement as anything other than the start of a diplomatic blind alley, and the Obama administration is being led into it by Bashar Assad and (Russian President) Vladimir Putin," Senators John McCain of Arizona and Lindsay Graham of South Carolina said in a statement. (Reporting by Phil Stewart; Editing by Doina Chiacu)