The Chairman of the Danish Privates’ and Corporals’ Association has complained bitterly over Politiken’s decision to print a special supplement today with the full text of a controversial book about the operations of Denmark’s elite Special Operations Force unit.

”I am very anrgy. This is not a question of exercises at (the Danish exercise grounds at) Oksbøl, but Danish soldiers who are at war in Afghanistan. I fear that by printing the book, Politiken may have compromised their security,” says Association Chairman Flemming Vinther.

Injunction
Denmark’s military has sought an injunction against the book, including demands to find all copies, an application for help from bailiffs to search all areas of the premises of the People’s Press publishers and to force People’s Press to divulge the names of journalists to whom review copies have been sent.

In a further development, Defence Chief Tim Sloth Jørgensen wrote a personal letter to Denmark’s editors-in-chief asking them to stop journalists reporting on the book.

An injunction hearing is to be heard in Copenhagen on Thursday of this week.

Politiken
Politiken’s editorial management’s argument that it is important that the general public is given a realistic view of the conditions for Danish special forces when they operate in the world’s hotspots, does not rub off on Vinther.

“For me, it is enough that the book can compromise the safety of my members. So Politiken should have waited until the court had decided on the issue. The decision may also have been that it was OK to publish the book,” says Vinther, adding that soldiers, when they enlist, must realise that some of their activities should remain secret.

“When you choose to be a soldier, you also choose to enter a space in which there is a certain limit to your freedom of speech. This is only the case in a very few contexts and is not a problem in everyday activities,” says Vinther.

Editor
Politiken Editor-in-Chief Tøger Seidenfaden says the general ban on the book that the defence chief is seeking places extensive limits of the freedom of information and speech.

“The background to the defence force action view is unfortunately a completely general assertion that this book is detrimental to the security of the country. If we accept that the military is able to do something like this, then freedom of information and speech becomes seriously limited,” says Seidenfaden.

He adds that Politiken had already printed the most interesting passages from the book in its edition last Saturday, at which time the military had not reacted.

“If there is sensitive information, then it’s already out there – in other media too. So the military seems to be riding on a principle that it should decide overall what should be allowed to come into the public domain. I have difficulty seeing how that is compatible with Danish democracy and our tradition that the media is also able to be critical, even if the authorities don’t like it – also when we are at war,” says Seidenfaden.