Danish Reporters Arrested For Publishing Iraq Weapons Story

The targeting of leaks and leakers is not merely a Washington obsession these days. Though it is likely that, given the nature of the information, the Danish government received helpful U.S. input in this matter.

Two reporters at one of Denmark's largest newspapers could face jail time for publishing classified intelligence reports about Iraq's weapons program, a prosecutor said Thursday.

Michael Bjerre and Jesper Larsen of the Berlingske Tidende newspaper were charged Wednesday with publishing confidential government documents, state prosecutor Karsten Hjorth said. If convicted, they could be fined or sentenced to as much as two years in prison.

No trial date was set.

In February and March 2004, Bjerre and Larsen wrote a series of articles based on leaked reports from the Danish Defense Intelligence Service. The reports said there was no evidence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction during Saddam Hussein's rule--one of the main reasons given by the Bush administration for the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

Editor in Chief Niels Lunde said the Berlingske Tidende and its reporters acted correctly. "Jesper Larsen and Michael Bjerre have carried out a precious piece of work," Lunde said in a statement.

Former intelligence officer Frank Grevil was convicted in late 2004 of leaking the documents to the reporters and was sentenced to four months in prison. During trial, he said he acted in the public interest.

These reporters did not publish secret war plans or anything else that could have been truly dangerous to national security.

They published information that was classified only to keep a politically embarrassing situation under wraps.

Washington is watching this case to see how much public support the reporters get in Denmark. If the heat is not too bad, we can expect to see American reporters start getting the same treatment.