REACTION TO GITMO AND DETAINEES

C O N F I D E N T I A L ZAGREB 001303 SIPDIS DEPT FOR S/WCI AMBASSADOR PROSPER DEPT FOR EUR A/S FRIED E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/08/2015 TAGS: KISL KPAO PGOV PREL SUBJECT: REACTION TO GITMO AND DETAINEES REF: STATE 142348 Classified By: Ambassador Ralph Frank for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) As requested, Ambassador delivered talking points on Guantanamo Bay to the State Secretary of the MFA, Hidajet Biscevic, who accepted them without comment. Post also delivered points to Deputy Director of the Human Rights Department at the MFA, Romana Oluic. Ms. Oluic appreciated the additional information about the Detention Facility and expressed the GOC's support for the war on terrorism. Additionally, she noted that there exists a necessary balance between fighting the GWOT and preserving human rights. ¶2. (U) Media reports on Guantanamo have become infrequent over time, are typically factual, and are never front page news. The occasional article is uniformly negative (one recent headline was "The Gulag of Our Time") as is public opinion, though only a minority of Croatians follow this story. Post will explore further opportunities to engage both the media and the wider public on this issue. DELAWIE NNNN