Obama: Al-Qaeda would have no qualms about using nuke

President Barack Obama said Sunday that he thinks world leaders “can
make enormous progress” on securing loose nuclear material to prevent
it from winding up in the hands of terrorists.

Obama held a series of meetings with world leaders on Sunday, as
heads of state and officials from 47 countries descend on Washington to
discuss and agree to ways to prevent nuclear terrorism.

{mosads}Before
meeting with President Jacob Zuma of South Africa, Obama warned that a
nuclear terrorist attack “is something that could change the security
landscape of this country and around the world for years to come.”

“If there was ever a detonation in New York City, or London or
Johannesburg, the ramifications economically, politically and from a
security perspective would be devastating,” Obama said. “And we know
that organizations like al-Qaeda are in the process of trying to secure
a nuclear weapon — a weapon of mass destruction that they have no
compunction at using.”

While many have questioned what kind of concrete deliverables Obama
can look for from foreign leaders after the two-day summit, the
president said “the central focus” of the meeting is to get the world
“on the path in which we are locking down that nuclear material in a
very specific time frame with a specific work plan.”

“And one of the things that I’m very pleased about is that
countries have embraced this goal and they’re coming to this summit,
not just talking about general statements of support but rather very
specific approaches to how we can solve this profound international
problem,” Obama said.

Much of the attention will be on Obama’s bilateral meeting with
Chinese President Hu Jintao on Monday as the president continues to
push China and Russia to get on board with the other permanent members
of the United Nations Security Council to impose tougher sanctions on
Iran.

But Obama said Sunday that he feels “very good at this stage in the
degree of commitment and sense of urgency that I’ve seen from the world
leaders so far on” the issue of nuclear security.

“We think we
can make enormous progress on this,” Obama said. “And this then becomes
part and parcel of the broader focus that we’ve had over the last
several weeks, with the signing of the START treaty between the United
States and Russia, reducing our nuclear stockpiles; a nuclear posture
review that has been released that sends a clear signal that those who
abide by the non-proliferation treaties will have negative assurances,
meaning that if they’re abiding by their obligations, then they will
not be targeted for potential nuclear weapons. And this then becomes a
central part of a process that is probably the most urgent one and one
that we’re most concerned with in the short term.”