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July 8, 2009

Obama Rejects Biden Comments on Backing Israeli Attack
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President Obama has appeared to repudiate a statement by Vice President
Joe Biden that the U.S. wouldn’t prevent Israel from attacking Iran. In
an interview earlier this week, Biden said Israel has the ‘sovereign
right’ to attack Iran if it decides to. But on Tuesday, Obama said
Israel does not have U.S. backing for an attack.

CNN Correspondent Ed Henry: “Are you giving Israel a green light?”

President Obama: “Absolutely not. And I think it’s very important that
I’m as clear as I can be, and our administration is as consistent as we
can be on this issue. I think Vice President Biden stated a categorical
fact which is we can’t dictate to other countries what their security
interests are. What is also true is that it is the policy of the United
States to try to resolve the issue of Iran’s nuclear capabilities in a
peaceful way through diplomatic channels.”



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