Obama calls French shooting 'cowardly evil attacks'
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| President Barack Obama pauses while speaking to members of the media prior to his meeting with Secretaryof State John Kerry and Vice President Joe Biden, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2015, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. Obama called the shootings at French newspaper a 'cowardly evil attack' on journalists and a free press. |
WASHINGTON
(AP) -- President Barack Obama called Wednesday's deadly shooting at a
satirical newspaper in Paris "cowardly evil attacks" on journalists and a
free press and vowed to help France pursue the terrorists who went on
the run.
Obama said the attack that left 12
dead in France's deadliest terror attack in at least two decades is a
reminder that such tragedies can occur anywhere in the world. He
promised to stay vigilant and "hunt down and bring the perpetrators of
this specific act to justice, and to roll up the networks that help to
advance these kinds of plots."
"The fact that
this was an attack on journalists, attack on our free press, also
underscores the degree to which these terrorists fear freedom of speech
and freedom of the press," Obama said from the Oval Office during a
meeting with Secretary of State John Kerry and Vice President Joe Biden.
"But
the one thing that I'm very confident about is that the values that we
share with the French people, a belief - a universal belief in the
freedom of expression, is something that can't be silenced because of
the senseless violence of the few," he added.
Obama
later telephoned French President Francois Hollande from Air Force One
en route to Detroit for a speech. Obama offered his condolences and
expressed solidarity with Hollande and the people of France, the White
House said in a statement. Obama also offered help from the United
States as France tries to bring the perpetrators of the attack, and any
possible accomplices, to justice.
Hollande
thanked Obama for his support and updated the president on steps to care
for victims and arrest those responsible, the White House said.
Three
masked gunmen stormed the office of the satirical weekly newspaper
Charlie Hebdo at noon-time on Wednesday and then escaped in a car.
Charlie Hebdo has been repeatedly threatened for its caricatures of the
Prophet Muhammad and other controversial sketches.
Witnesses
said the shooters shouted "Allahu akbar!" France raised its security
alert to the highest level, as thousands honored the victims from
Republique Square in Paris.
"What that
beautiful city represents - the culture and the civilization that is so
central to our imaginations - that's going to endure," Obama said. "And
those who carry out senseless attacks against innocent civilians,
ultimately they'll be forgotten."
Earnest said
U.S. officials have been in touch with French counterparts but it's
"still in the early stages" of figuring out who was responsible for the
attack and he couldn't say whether the gunmen were tied to a specific
terror group.
"We're still trying to figure
out who is responsible for this attack and what their motivations are
but as a general matter, we're very mindful of the threat from foreign
fighters and the need to try to counter some of the extremist ideology
that ISIL is propagating," Earnest said, using an acronym for Islamic
State militants.
Asked about what
responsibility news organizations had when it comes to publishing
provocative material, Earnest said, "There is no legitimate act of
journalism - however offensive some people might find it - that
justifies an act of violence, particularly an act of violence on the
scale we saw today. That said, it is up to media organizations to make
their own decisions about what they choose to publish, what stories they
choose to pursue and what sort of commentary they want to broadcast
about the world."
Obama called France one of
America's strongest allies in dealing with terrorists and said they had
been with the U.S. "every moment" since the Sept. 11 attacks.
"For
us to see the kind of cowardly evil attacks that took place today I
think reinforces once again why it's so important for us to stand in
solidarity with them, just as they stand in solidarity with us," Obama
said.
Obama said he would be talking with
Kerry about protecting Americans living across the globe. Later, Obama
counterterrorism adviser Lisa Monaco told MSNBC that there's no evidence
of any threat to U.S. personnel in Paris.
Kerry,
who has visited Paris more than any other foreign city as America's top
diplomat, spoke earlier from the State Department in both English and
French to offer America's support.
"I would
like to say directly to the people of Paris and of all of France that
each and every American stands with you today - not just in horror or in
anger or in outrage at this vicious act of violence - but we stand with
you in solidarity and in commitment both to the cause of confronting
extremism and in the cause which the extremists fear so much," Kerry
said.
