Danish Newspaper Prints Soldier's Controversial Book
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COPENHAGEN — A Danish newspaper on Wednesday printed the content of a book by a former special forces soldier that the military has been trying to ban citing national security.
Copenhagen daily Politiken printed the text of Thomas Rathsack's book in a special insert to protest what it called military interference with freedom of expression. It wasn't immediately clear whether Rathsack had given his consent.
The Danish military had sought a court order banning the book from being published, saying it contains information that is sensitive to national security. In the book, which was set for release on Sept. 24, Rathsack describes operations carried out by his Danish ranger unit in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Several Danish newspapers have published excerpts from the book, but Politiken was the only one to print the entire text – rejecting a plea from Denmark's top military commander.
"We have been writing about the book for many days but now we have some matters of principle coming up in this case involving the freedom of information and the freedom of speech," Politiken editor-in-chief Toeger Seidenfaden said, in explaining the paper's decision.
Chief of Staff Tim Sloth Joergensen asked Danish papers on Tuesday not to publish any more content from the book, which was distributed to domestic media for reviews.
Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen criticized Politiken's decision, saying it should have waited for a court ruling set for Thursday on the military's request for an injunction against the publication.
"We must stand guard for the freedom of speech but we must certainly also stand guard for the young men and women we send out in the world's hotspots," he said. "Their safety must be taken into consideration."
Rathsack's book, titled "Ranger – at war with the elite" in Danish, describes missions in Iraq and Afghanistan of the Jaegerkorps, an elite army unit trained for special operations behind enemy lines. It doesn't give the full names of any soldiers or precise locations.
In one case, Rathsack recalled an undercover operation in which members of the unit, disguised in Afghan clothing, escorted a secret agent code-named "Eric" from an unnamed coalition force.
The military didn't specify how the book would compromise national security.
Denmark has generally been tightlipped about its most secretive units, including the Jaegerkorps. However, in 2005 members of the special forces held a rare news conference as part of a government initiative for more transparency in the military.
The top-trained soldiers have been deployed in missions in Afghanistan, Iraq and Kosovo.
According to the military, 24 regular Danish troops have been killed in Afghanistan, but no special forces.
Danish newspapers are not afraid to test the limits of freedom of expression. In 2005, the Jyllands-Posten paper triggered an uproar in Muslim countries by printing caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. Last year, after police said they had foiled a plot to kill one of the cartoonists, Denmark's top papers reprinted the caricatures to show they wouldn't be intimidated by extremists.
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Associated Press Writer Karl Ritter in Stockholm contributed to this report.
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JAN M. OLSEN 09/16/09 11:05 AM ET Associated Press