Raising questions about why it was stamped "Classified" in the first place, Britain's Guardian newspaper today (Friday) published a Wikileaks-leaked memo written in 2007 about efforts by officials in Hamburg, Germany to stamp out Scientology. The memo, written by Karen Johnson, the U.S. consul general in Hamburg, said that those efforts had been stepped up in part because of "the attention to Scientology generated during the filming of the movie Valkyrie in Berlin, in which Tom Cruise [a Scientology member] stars, and the summer media slump." The memo focuses on efforts by Hamburg's Working Group on Scientology and "its firebrand leader," Ursula Caberta, who at the time had just published a book titled Black Book Scientology declaring that Scientology had "declared war on Europe." The memo indicates that local politicians have latched onto the Scientology issue "to show voters that they are actively addressing their concerns," although they "openly and cordially discuss with ConGen [consul general] representatives USG [U.S. government] policy on religious freedom."

17/12/2010