WASHINGTON — President Obama said last night he’s confident Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal will not fall into the hands of enemies or terrorists because that country’s army understands how dangerous that would be.
“I’m confident that we can make sure that Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal is secure,” he said in his third prime-time press conference last night. “Primarily, initially, because the Pakistani army, I think, recognizes the hazards of those weapons falling into the wrong hands.”
Taliban forces — aided by elements of Afghan forces, as well as al Qaeda — have come within about 50 miles of the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, in recent days, threatening a critical US ally that possesses as many as 100 nuclear weapons.
“We’ve got strong military-to-military consultation and cooperation,” Obama said.
On another issue, he declared flatly that the waterboarding procedure approved under George W. Bush was “torture.”
But he would not say that Bush himself had condoned torture.
Obama, marking his first 100 days in office, also expressed new confidence that, despite early bankruptcy filings, Chrysler will find a workable suitor in Italian car company Fiat without much disruption to domestic factory operations or car sales.
“I am actually very hopeful — more hopeful than I was 30 days ago — that we can see a resolution that maintains a viable Chrysler auto company out there,” he said.
“What we’ve seen is the unions have made enormous sacrifices, on top of sacrifices that they had previously made. You’ve now seen the major debt holders come up with a set of potential concessions that they can live with.”