Obama's ex-pastor confronts media in Washington

By Andy Sullivan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Barack Obama's former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, blasted news media he said had sensationalized his remarks in an often confrontational appearance at a reporters' club on Monday.

But the Chicago preacher stood by the fiery sermons that have dogged Obama's Democratic presidential campaign since they gained public attention in March.

"You cannot do terrorism on other people and not expect it to come back to you," Wright said at the National Press Club when asked about a speech in which he asserted the September 11 attacks were retaliation for U.S. foreign policy.

Asked about another sermon in which he suggested the U.S. government created the AIDS virus to kill black people, Wright also did not retreat.

"Based on what has happened to Africans in this country, I believe our government is capable of doing anything," he said.

Obama, who is battling fellow Democrat Hillary Clinton for the right to take on Republican John McCain in the November presidential election, joined Wright's Trinity United Church of Christ 20 years ago.

Obama told reporters at the airport in Wilmington, North Carolina that his former pastor is free to speak his mind but does not speak for his presidential campaign.

"I have said before and I repeat again that ... some of the comments that Rev. Wright has made offend me and I understand why they have offended the American people."