Green Party candidate deletes old post supporting Assad’s regime

The campaign for Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein removed a year-old statement from its website advocating that the U.S. work to restore control of Syria to President Bashar al-Assad, according to The Washington Post.

{mosads}The statement, posted on the website in November 2015, called on President Obama not to intervene militarily in the Syrian civil war.

“Stein said the US should be working with Syria, Russia, and Iran to restore all of Syria to control by the government rather than Jihadi rebels,” the statement reads. 

“Collaboration could lead to real success against [the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria]. And it would stop the flow of refugees that is reaching crisis proportions in Europe.”

The statement has been deleted in recent days and replaced with a new message apologizing for the error and pointing to a more recent statement on Syria.

“It has recently been brought to our attention that our website contained an old statement posted without the approval of our candidate that did not accurately reflect the position of our campaign or the Green Party,” the message reads. “We apologize for any confusion and concern this has caused.”

The new statement, which was made in an interview with RealClearPolitics last month, calls for “principled collaboration in bringing a weapons embargo to the region, freezing the bank accounts of countries that continue to fund terrorist groups, promoting a ceasefire, and supporting inclusive peace talks.”

As for the original statement advocating for returning control of Syria to Assad — who has been accused of war crimes — a spokeswoman told the Post that Stein had never proposed any such measure.

“Dr. Stein has never taken that position and had not seen or approved that statement, which was mistakenly posted on the website in November 2015,” said Meleiza Figueroa.