I'm looking for a report on the story that hasn't been "filtered" by the opinion of the Associated Press, so we can see more of the context. If anyone finds one please post it here.
His full remarks in French are here. http://peres-blancs.cef.fr/misna133.htm Admittedly, there's not a lot more context, so I could be off base in my interpretation -- it doesn't look like the AP really thrashed the story too badly.