Obama pastor blames US ‘terror’ for 9/11 attacks

Obama pastor blames US ‘terror’ for 9/11 attacks-Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama categorically rejected “appalling remarks” by his pastor as aides said the controversial preacher had resigned from a campaign committee.

The Illinois senator sought to quell the uproar over Reverend Jeremiah Wright, who said the Sept 11 attacks were brought on by American “terrorism” and that African-Americans should sing “God Damn America” to protest their treatment.

An Obama spokesman said Wright had resigned from his honorary membership on the campaign’s African American Religious Leadership Committee, US media reported on Saturday. But it remained unclear whether Wright was asked to step down.

In a blog post, Obama, hoping to become the country’s first black president, wrote Friday that Wright had “touched off a firestorm” with “some inflammatory and appalling remarks he made about our country, our politics, and my political opponents.” “I vehemently disagree and strongly condemn the statements that have been the subject of this controversy,” Obama wrote on the Huffington Post website, and said such comments flew in the face of his own “profound” love of America.

“I categorically denounce any statement that disparages our great country or serves to divide us from our allies.” While denouncing Wright’s words, Obama told MSNBC television he was not ready to “repudiate the man” who helped him find faith, baptized his two daughters and officiated at his wedding ceremony.

As television news networks ran video clips of Wright’s vehement sermons over the past seven years, the flap threatened to turn into a major issue in Obama’s fight with Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination.

It was also likely to become fodder for Republican groups against Obama if he wins the Democratic nomination.

An investigation by ABC News into dozens of Wright’s sermons found repeated denunciations of the United States, based on what he said is its past treatment of black Americans.

“God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human. God damn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme,” Wright was quoted as saying in one outburst.

In 2001, Wright said the Sept 11 attacks were “chickens coming home to roost” for US “terrorism” abroad.

“We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye,” he said.

Obama made clear in his blog that he had never heard Wright preach inflammatory sermons, only the “gospel of Jesus, a gospel on which I base my life.” He said that as Wright was retiring from the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, he would continue to worship there.

“While Rev. Wright’s statements have pained and angered me, I believe that Americans will judge me not on the basis of what someone else said, but on the basis of who I am and what I believe in; on my values, judgment and experience to be President of the United States.” As Obama tried to ease the controversy, Michigan’s Democratic party signalled it was working on plans to repeat its primary on June 3, after an original vote was invalidated by national party bosses over a scheduling dispute.

The state was stripped of its 156 Democratic convention delegates over the row, and a fresh election could boost Hillary Clinton, as she tries to cut Obama’s lead of more than 100 nominating delegates.

Clinton won the previous Michigan contest held on Jan 15, but was the only candidate with her name on the ballot and none of the contenders campaigned in the state.

On Thursday Florida, which also saw its delegates stripped after trying to leap forward in the nominating calendar, announced a proposal for a postal primary, with a voting deadline of June 3.

But local officials admitted that the chances of getting the election to go ahead appeared slim.
Obama pastor blames US ‘terror’ for 9/11 attacks