Excerpt from President Obama’s Interview with BBC Persian

New York, New York

September 24, 2010

QUESTION:     If I could just begin with getting your reaction to the remarks Mr. Ahmadinejad made yesterday, faulting America for 9/11.

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, it was offensive.  It was hateful.  And particularly for him to make the statement here in Manhattan, just a little north of Ground Zero, where families lost their loved ones, people of all faiths, all ethnicities who see this as the seminal tragedy of this generation, for him to make a statement like that was inexcusable.