Bush made the comments Wednesday morning on CNN’s “New Day”, where he also backed Obama and Turkey in the dispute over a Russian warplane and said that he simply doesn’t believe Donald Trump’s claim that he saw thousands of Muslims celebrating on 9/11.
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“Turkey, like every country, has a right to defend its territory and its airspace”.
“Nous sommes tous francais (We are all French)”, Obama said, concluding with “Vive la France!“.
In remarks to reporters after his meeting with Hollande, Obama strongly condemned the massacre in Paris, calling it assault on “the very idea that people of different races and religions and backgrounds can live together in peace”. So far, Obama is resisting calls to significantly escalate his approach, and instead is focused on getting other countries to offer more counterintelligence, humanitarian and military assistance.
Mr Hollande has called on Washington and Moscow to form a grand coalition against the ISIS, in light of both the Paris attacks and the downing of the Russian plane over Sinai.
But Hollande said France will not put troops on the ground in Syria.
Hollande said he would bring that message to Moscow, adding “We do not want to exclude anyone”.
“We will win and groups like ISIL will lose”, Obama said, using an acronym for Islamic State.
Ankara has said its jets shot down the Russian aircraft after it violated Turkish airspace 10 times within a five-minute period, a move that Russian President Vladimir Putin denounced as a “stab in the back” by another key player in Syria’s brutal civil war. While Putin says his country is targeting the Islamic State militants, the US contends Moscow is going after rebels fighting Assad, a Kremlin ally whom the USA wants pushed out.
“We like the French” for their “mindset” their “culture” and “verve”, said Mr. Obama, at a joint press conference with Hollande.
THE diplomatic crisis between Russian Federation and Nato-member Turkey cast a shadow over talks between France and the U.S. in Washington yesterday.
“President Hollande and I agreed that Russia’s strikes against the moderate opposition only bolster the (Bashar) Assad regime, whose brutality has helped to fuel the rise of ISIL”.
Obama said, “We are here today to declare that the United States and France stand united in total solidarity to deliver justice to these terrorists and those who sent them and to defend our nations”.
Hollande stood with the United States during the press conference saying in no uncertain terms that Assad has to go. “Russia is a coalition of two – Iran and Russian Federation supporting Assad”.
“The Paris attacks generated a lot of emotions”, he said through an interpreter.
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Obama spoke warmly of America’s affection for France, noting that he keeps a photograph by his bed of his wife, Michelle, and him kissing in the city’s Luxembourg Gardens.
