Denmark's Defense Minister Resigning

AP ^ | 2-23-04

[TexKat]

COPENHAGEN, Denmark - Danish Defense Minister Svend Aage Jensby said Friday he was resigning after lawmakers questioned pre-war intelligence reports on Saddam Hussein's possession of weapons of mass destruction.

Denmark supported the U.S.-led war in Iraq and has 496 troops there under British command in the southern cities of Basra and Qurnah.

Jensby has been defense minister under Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen since November 2001.

Jensby notified Fogh Rasmussen Friday after the prime minister returned from a trip to the United States, then announced his decision in a written statement.

Lawmakers have questioned the military's reports on Saddam's weapons of mass destruction after a former military intelligence analyst was fired for leaking portions of two confidential reports to a newspaper in February. The analyst claimed that Fogh Rasmussen lied to lawmakers in 2002 when he sought support for the war to oust Saddam.

On Monday, Danish Defense Intelligence Service chief Rear Adm. Joern Olesen said the agency had always believed that Iraq "probably had biological and chemical weapons," adding that the documents were based on information gathered by the United Nations and NATO.

But a Danish intelligence report dated March 7, 2003, concluded that there was no "certain information" that Iraq had working weapons of mass destruction.

Ultimately, Denmark backed the invasion and contributed soldiers and a submarine, saying force was needed because Saddam would not cooperate with U.N. weapons inspectors.

[GeorgiaDawg]

Yikes! What are we going to do now that DENMARK is not helping to defend liberty?

[billorites]

Better bake some butter cookies.

[smith288]

So now they are getting wobbly about Iraq because they trusted reports that the UN authored?

[Eurotwit]

Belive it or not:

This story is a LIE.

I am Norwegian, and watch lots of Danish television.


He didn't resign because of any lies.

He resigns because of leads from a parlamentary comitte.

[Eurotwit]

It is shocking to see how the wire agencies are lying.

I am following the story now from all the main Danish media outlets.

The story is not about lies, it is about leaks.

[Eurotwit]

leaks, not leads.

[OldFriend]

Glad you cleared that up.....NOT

Can you explain the context so we are not reacting to a non story!

[skeeter]

Whats shocking about it? Its AP.

The media is on a crusade to vindicate itself re: Iraq & will sieze any opportunity, tell any lie, to accomplish that end.

[Chysoph]

Why did they contributed a submarine? Makes no sense to me.

[Renfield]

What leaks? What are they about? We get no coverage of Danish political events here.

[Eurotwit]

Basically,

the Danish government have been attacked by the leftist and accused of lying to the public conserning the Iraq war.

In the parlimentary comitte there was documents that supported the line of the government that they did not lie. The defence minister was accused of leaking these documents in order to clear the Danish government.

He is resigning because of the these leaks.


Did that help, old friend?

BTW. I am breaking an internal rule of mine to not post intoxicated just to post it. (It's 7 pm in Oslo and I am heading out to paint the town red :-)

[Eurotwit]

Well, I am used to spin, but I felt this crossed the line into lying.

[BillF]

Belive it or not:

This story is a LIE.

I am Norwegian, and watch lots of Danish television.

He didn't resign because of any lies.

He resigns because of leads from a parlamentary comitte.

Thanks for correcting the record, but the AP is looking to force some of Bush's people to resign. Like most of the press here in the U.S., they are trying to propagate a lie and get Bush defeated in his re-election campaign.

The media and Democratic lie is that Bush and advisors lied about WMDs. Saddam used WMDs, admitted to the UN several years back (in 1996 or 1998) that he still had WMDs, and never documented the required destruction of them.

The WMDs likely were buried in the desert and/or shipped to Syria. They may never be found. If they are, I hope it's not when they are used in the U.S., Europe or elsewhere.

[OldFriend]

He released documents that support the truth?

What has happened to Norway.

Seems to me I have read stories about their bowing to their islamic citizens to the detriment of their jewish citizens.....is this true?

[far sider]

Thanks, Euro.

Your perspective is appreciated.

[TexKat]

Okay Eurotwit, here is an article from a Copenhagen newspaper. The Copenhagen Post.

Document release supports me, PM claims

I only provided a link due to: All rights reserved CPHPOST.DK ApS

Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited by law

[Eurotwit]

The documents confirmed that the government did not lie.

But, leaking the documents broke some parlimentary rule.

But, this happened in Denmark, not Norway.

Denmark seems to have woken up a bit.



In Norway we have Mullah Krekar (former leader of Ansar Al Islam) having a book release toor being the talk of the town and a guest of all the big talk shows.

What can I say?

Pretty much nothing.

[malakhi]

Oh no!

Who will protect them now from the depredations of the Swedes?

[TexKat]

Ping to post #17.