US embassy cable - 05MADRID2648

C O N F I D E N T I A L MADRID 002648 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/11/2015 
TAGS: KISL, KPAO, PREL, PTER, SP 
SUBJECT: SPAIN: SPEAKING WITH MUSLIM LEADERS ABOUT 
TERRORIST ACTS. 
 
REF: SECSTATE 121758 
 
Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission J Robert Manzanares for reasons 
1.4 
(b) and (d). 
 
1. (U) Though not an action addressee on reftel, post wished 
to share the following points. 
 
2. (U) Embassy Madrid's Muslim Outreach Committee has been 
active in reaching out to the Muslim Community in Spain in 
the past year. Embassy officers have made visits to the M-30 
mosque, the largest mosque in Spain, and visited the Islamic 
Cultural Center. Post has established contacts with the 
leaders of the Islamic Commission of Spain and held a 
breakfast for Muslim leaders and diplomats from Arab 
countries. Madrid also hosted the Department's first citizen 
diplomat, Abdulwahab Alkebsi, Program Officer for the Middle 
East at the National Endowment for Democracy, for a speaking 
tour of Spain. 
 
3. (C) Newly arrived Ambassador Aguirre has made Muslim 
Outreach one of his priorities, and he will soon meet with 
leaders of the Muslim community in Spain. In response to 
reftel, post will use these opportunities to underscore the 
importance of public statements condemning terrorist 
violence, in addition to reiterating the Embassy's commitment 
to engaging the community. 
 
4. (C) Spanish Muslim leaders have consistently been vocal in 
their condemnation of terrorism, particularly in the wake of 
the Madrid train bombings of March 11, 2004. One of the 
reftel examples of positive statements made by Muslim leaders 
was the fatwa against Osama bin Laden issued by the Islamic 
Commission of Spain on the anniversary of the bombings in 
March 2005. 
 
5. (C) In addition, immediately after the London bombings on 
July 7, Commission Secretary General Mansur Escudero 
denounced the attacks, saying, "if the authors of the attacks 
in London are Muslim, then they are expelled from Islam, for 
trying to legitimize what God considers illegitimate, for 
killing innocents and increasing the suffering of Muslims by 
casting suspicion on all of them." On behalf of the 
Commission, he also expressed "absolute condemnation of the 
attacks and our solidarity with the victims..." 
 
6. (SBU) The Mission Muslim Outreach Committee will next meet 
on August 2 to put together the Embassy outreach strategy to 
increase engagement with the Spanish Muslim community in the 
coming months. Post will report on events as they happen. 
AGUIRRE