Friday, July 3, 2009

Text of Obama's AP interview

AP transcript of an interview with President Barack Obama on Thursday (2/7/2009) Q: Appreciate the time. Obama: You bet. Q: News out this morning: unemployment rate up to 9.5 percent... Q: On Iran, are you reconciled at all to the idea that you would have to live with a nuclear-armed Iran? Most experts think that they will have a nuclear bomb maybe within your term. Obama: I'm not reconciled with that, and I don't think the international community is reconciled with that. Now, how we get from what we know is required for international security - which is a nuclear-free Iran - how we get from here to there is a big challenge. And it's gotten more difficult in light of what's happened postelection in Iran. Obama: So understand, though, that this is not just a U.S. position. The biggest concern is not simply that Iran can threaten us or our allies like Israel or its neighbors in the region. A very real concern is, is that Iran possessing a nuclear weapon triggers an arms race in the region and suddenly countries like Egypt and Saudi Arabia and Turkey all feel obliged to get nuclear weapons. And if you've got the most volatile region in the world and everybody armed to the teeth with nuclear weapons, you've got a recipe for potential disaster ... Click here for full story

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