US deplores meeting of Holocaust skeptics

The State Department dismissed on Monday as "just awful" Iran's convening of a conference to advance its contention that the World War II Holocaust never happened. The conference, combined with Iran's advocacy of Israel's destruction, "should be of grave concern to everybody around the world," spokesman Sean McCormack said. The two-day conference drew 67 participants from 30 countries , some of whom have been prosecuted in Europe for publishing their theories casting doubt on whether 6 million Jews were killed by the Nazis or whether gas chambers were ever used.