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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