"I hope that Powell did not take the Syrian regime word for denying the moving of Iraq WMD to Syria. In my humble opinion I think Powell agreed more with the Germans because it is an easier thing to do rather than agreeing with the Chinese because if he did agree with the Chinese intelligence that Iraq moved the WMD to Syria that means a lot of more investigations and problems with Syria something that Powell tried to avoid as a DIPLOMAT.</p>"
Re: Colin Powell
I found this. It is an interview conducted shortly after that trip. It confirms what you have posted in your translation.
I'm not sure what led the host (Mr. Schieffer) to ask the question. Why would he at that time have expected Syria to have knowledge of where Iraq's wmds were? Prior to this interview, there is NO mention that I can find anywhere, that anyone assumed the wmds might have been moved to Syria. Not even by Colin Powell.
"MR. SCHIEFFER: Mr. Secretary, you remember before all of this started, you went before the United Nations and talked about weapons of mass destruction. You said, "We had evidence that large scores of these
weapons were there." Nobody has found them yet. Did you get any information while you were there (in Syria) about that?
SECRETARY POWELL: NOT FROM THE SYRIANS, NO. AND THEY SAY THAT THEY HAVE TAKEN IN NO WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION FROM IRAQ. Their position is that they think it unlikely that Saddam Hussein would have trusted them with such weapons. Nevertheless, we will continue to watch carefully, and any information or indications we have, we will follow up on them. I am still confident that weapons of mass destruction will be found. You have to keep in mind, however, that when we passed UN Resolution 1441 on a vote of 15 to zero, just voting for that resolution signs you up to the proposition that Iraq was not coming clean, with respect to their weapons of mass destruction programs.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/security/library/news/2003/05/sec-030504-usia02.htm
Very interesting. Thanks for the find.