President Obama condemned the Paris terror attack on satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo Wednesday as “cowardly, evil 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,” the president said, speaking from the Oval Office.
He added: “I thought it was appropriate to express my deepest sympathies to the people of Paris and the people of France for the terrible terrorist attacks that took place earlier today,” the president said. “All of us recognize that France is one of our oldest allies, our strongest allies, they have been with us at every moment from 9/11 on from dealing with some of the terrorist organizations around the world who threaten us.”
A terror attack by what appears to be Islamic radicals killed at least 12 people at the offices of French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo Wednesday morning. Another 11 people were injured, four of them seriously.
The president added: “The fact that this was an attack on journalists, an attack on our free press, also underscores the degree to which these terrorists fear freedom of speech, and freedom of the press, 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 freedom and expression is something that won’t be silenced because of the senseless violence.”