US embassy cable - 05PARIS3413

UNCLAS PARIS 003413 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/PPD 
 
E. O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KPAO, PREL, KISL, FR 
SUBJECT:  OUTREACH ON NEWSWEEK'S RETRACTION OF ARTICLE ON 
KORAN DESECRATION AT GUANTANAMO 
 
REF: State 090992 
 
1. State 090992 asked all posts to approach media and 
appropriate host government officials to reiterate USG 
respect for religious worship and tradition, and to ask 
media outlets to give the same wide coverage to the Newsweek 
retraction as to the original allegations.  Given that 
French language media have reported extensively from their 
US bureaus on the Newsweek retraction, Embassy Paris has 
approached trusted Arab and Muslim media contacts to deploy 
our points and seek their perspectives on the story. 
 
2.  Reactions from our Arab and Muslim media contacts 
reflect the currents we have observed in the French language 
press:  that similar allegations have floated around before 
from former Guantanamo prisoners, so this is nothing 
completely new; reports on Koran desecration allegations are 
balanced with statements from USG officials including 
SecState and DOD, State, and White House spokesmen; the 
nexus of the story elsewhere, either in the US or in Arab 
countries; and Newsweek's retraction may have resulted from 
USG pressure.  Embassy Paris will, in a separate cable, 
provide an analysis of this story's development in the 
French press and highlight possible themes to refute it. 
 
3.  Post has not yet spoken with Muslim community group 
contacts about the story, but will draw attention to 
Newsweek's retraction as part of its continuing outreach to 
these organizations. 
WOLFF