24-09-10 Ahmadinejad Defends 9/11 Conspiracy Comment

The Iranian president on Friday defended his remarks at the U.N. in which he claimed most people in the world believe the United States was behind the Sept.11,2001 terror attacks.He also challenged the United Nations to set up a commission to study the attacks."I did not pass judgment,but don't you feel that the time has come to have a fact finding committee," Mahmoud Ahmadinejad asked during a news conference in a New York hotel.CBS News State Department reporter Charles Wolfson reports that at one point,Ahmadinejad answered a question by saying:"Did I say anything wrong?" When he was told he had upset many people,the Iranian leader took a swipe at American officials,saying "they think they're infallible," adding that "they're used to being the ones to talk." He also lashed out at the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as an overreaction to the attacks.The Americans should "not occupy the entire Middle East...bomb wedding parties...annihilate an entire village just because one terrorist is hiding there." Ahmadinejad's remarks during a speech to the U.N. General Assembly Thursday afternoon prompted a walkout by the U.S. diplomats.Delegations from all 27 European Union nations followed the Americans out along with representatives from Australia,New Zealand,Canada and Costa Rica,an EU diplomat said.President Barack Obama responded to Ahmadinejad in a BBC Persian service interview Friday saying:"Well,it was offensive.It was hateful."