Obama says no regrets over ground zero Islamic center comments

CNN Wire Staff

[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/POLITICS/08/18/obama.islamic.center/story.obama.ohio.afp.gi.jpg caption="President Obama's remarks last week became a political issue" width=300 height=169]

President Obama said Wednesday that he has "no regrets" about his comments last week supporting the rights of Muslims to build an Islamic center and mosque two blocks from the site of the September 11 terror attacks in New York.

"The answer is no regrets," Obama said when asked about bringing up the issue Friday at a White House dinner commemorating the start of Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

At the dinner, Obama said that those wanting to build the Islamic center and mosque have the constitutional right to religious freedom. On Saturday, he clarified that he was talking only about the right to build the center and not the "wisdom" of doing so close to "ground zero," where more than 2,700 people died when planes hijacked by terrorists slammed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center.

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