Obama Slams BP, Other Oil Executives Over Spill Accountability

Transocean, BP America, and Halliburton executives (left to right) appeared before Congress on May 12 for a "ridiculous spectacle," according to President Obama.

U.S. President Barack Obama has sharply criticized executives of BP and other oil firms, saying they were creating a "ridiculous spectacle" by refusing to take responsibility for the massive and ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The executives from BP, Halliburton, and Transocean appeared before the Senate on May 11.

Obama said the executives were "falling over each other to point the finger of blame at somebody else."

Obama said the priority at the moment was stopping the well rupture that followed an April 12 explosion on an oil drilling rig in the gulf.

But he emphasized his intentions to hold BP accountable under U.S. law for the costs of the ecological disaster.

compiled from agency reports