Pres. Obama to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer: “…the notion that Mr. Assad could significantly threaten the United States is just not the case.”
Today CNN lead political anchor Wolf Blitzer sat down with President Barack Obama at the White House to discuss options for Syria. This interview airs in the 6 p.m. ET hour on The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer and will be simulcast on CNN International. Please visit http://archives.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/ for a full transcript.
VIDEO: Take proposal seriously: http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/politics/2013/09/09/tsr-intv-blitzer-obama-syria-proposal.cnn.html
VIDEO: 9/11 Alert: http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/politics/2013/09/09/tsr-intv-obama-blitzer-9-11.cnn.html
Please Credit – CNN’s The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer
Highlights from Wolf Blitzer’s interview with Pres. Obama:
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BLITZER: This latest idea floated by the secretary of State, John Kerry, picked up by the Russians, is it possible this could avert a U.S. military strike on Syria?
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: …So it is a potentially positive development. I have to say that it’s unlikely that we would have arrived at that point where there were even public statements like that without a credible military threat to deal with the chemical weapons use inside of Syria….
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BLITZER: He’s ready to take that to the U.N. Security Council. That’s a lot better than deterring, uh, the, uh, the Syrians from going at and using these chemical weapons.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: …And these are conversations that I’ve had directly with Mr. Putin. When I was at the G-20, uh, we had some time to discuss this. And, uh, I believe that, uh, Mr. Putin does not see the use of chemical weapons as a good thing inside of Syria or anyplace else…
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BLITZER: What I’d like you to do, Mr. President, if you’re amenable to doing it, look into the camera, talk directly to President Bashar Al-Assad. Tell him specifically what you think he must do to avert a U.S. military strike.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: …That can be accomplished, uh, and it does not solve the broader political situation. I would say to Mr. Assad, we need a political settlement so that you’re not slaughtering your own people, uh, and, by the way, encouraging some elements of the opposition to engage in some terrible behavior, as well…
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