Wright Condemns Criticism As an Attack on Black Churches

Reverend Jeremiah Wright, the Chicago pastor whose provocative sermons have damaged Barack Obama's campaign, today condemned criticism of his views as an attack on America's black churches.

Today's appearance was Wright's third in four days as the clergyman tried to counter the media uproar over his sermons.

The controversy has turned Wright into a hate figure of the rightwing cable networks, and allowed critics to paint Obama as unpatriotic and divisive.

But Wright argued his comments were misconstrued by a mainstream America that was unaware of the traditions of black worship in America.

"The most recent attack on the black church, it is not an attack on Jeremiah Wright. It's an attack on the black church," he told the National Press Club in Washington.

Obama sought last month to answer doubts about Wright by delivering a powerful address on race.

The pastor's latest comments, occasionally laced with sarcasm, were unlikely to put an end entirely to the controversy that has hurt Obama's efforts to win support from white voters, or silence those who have demanded the Democrat quit Wright's church.

The presumptive Republican nominee, John McCain, on Sunday launched his first direct attack on Wright. Republicans in North Carolina have used footage of Wright's sermons in attack ads against Democratic candidates.

The racial divide exposed by Wright's comments carried over to today's appearance. A handful of picketers outside the National Press Club carried signs reading, "Wright is an Obamination", "Wright is Wrong" and "Chickens Come Home to Roost". Inside, Wright faced questions such as: "Do you think people of other races would feel welcome at your church?"

In his appearance today, Wright did not disown the most controversial of the sound bites - that America bore some measure of blame for the attacks of 9/11.

"You cannot do terrorism on other people and expect it never to come back on you. Those are biblical principles, not Jeremiah Wright bombastic principles," he said.

Nor did he back away from remarks accusing the US government of deliberately spreading the HIV virus. He recalled the Tuskegee experiments, in which hundreds of black men in Alabama went untreated for syphilis so doctors could study the progress of the disease.

"Based on what has happened to Africans in this country, I believe that our government is capable of doing anything," he said.He got the most enthusiastic applause as well as cheers for rejecting the notion that his criticism of the Iraq war or racism in America was unpatriotic. "My goddaughter's unit just arrived in Iraq this week while those who call me unpatriotic have used their positions of privilege to avoid military service, while sending over 4,000 American boys and girls to die over a lie!"

Later on, he took a shot at the vice president, Dick Cheney, saying: "I served six years in the military. Does that make me unpatriotic? How many years did Cheney serve?"

But it seemed as if Wright was stung by suggestions that Obama had sought to distance himself from the man who brought him to the church, and presided over his marriage and the baptism of his two daughters.

"He distanced himself from some of my remarks - like most of you never having heard the sermon," he said. "He had to distance himself because he is a politician from what the media was saying I had said because it was anti-American."

Wright also said that he has put Obama on notice that if he is elected next November, he can expect his old pastor to be watching.

"I'm coming after you," he said. "Whether he gets elected or not, I'm still going to have to be answerable to God."