Former Texas GOP Gov. Rick Perry has blasted the Obama administration for failing to achieve the full elimination of Syria's chemical weapons after traces of toxic agents were discovered recently at a military facility,
The Washington Free Beacon reported.
The potential 2016 presidential candidate described the discovery of the toxic agents as "disturbing" and "further proof of the atrocities committed" by the regime of Bashar al-Assad.
"Tragically, the Syrian people continue to suffer at the hands of this dictator because the Obama administration's empty words did nothing to stop Assad," Perry said in a statement to the Beacon.
"We cannot afford to continue to blindly trust dictators who attack their own people to uphold international agreements without penalty."
Syria stands accused of killing 1,400 people in August 2013 in a chemical weapons attack using sarin gas.
Reuters reported last week that chemical precursors for sarin and VX nerve agents were found at a Syrian military research site where it is thought that the Syrian government developed biological and chemical weapons.
"This is a pretty strong indication [the Assad regime has] been lying about what they did with sarin," a diplomatic source told Reuters. "They have so far been unable to give a satisfactory explanation about this finding."
President Barack Obama had promised in 2013 that he would order airstrikes against the Assad regime for crossing the "red line" with a chemical weapons attack, but later reversed the decision after coming to an agreement with Russia to destroy the country's chemical weapons stockpile.
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