Under-siege minister gets backing from the public despite the ‘war book’ translation scandal

Defence Minister Søren Gade remains popular in spite of the outrage swirling around the actions of the Defence Ministry and the Defence Command in relation to a book by former elite soldier Thomas Rathsack.

The military tried to stop publication of the book, which contains details about military missions in Afghanistan and Iraq. The book was translated into Arabic but it was later revealed that the Defence Command’s IT boss, Jesper Britze, had produced the translation.

A Gallup poll of 1105 people shows that 63 percent believe Søren Gade should still stay on as defence minister, Berlingske Tidende newspaper reports.

But a majority of the public disagrees with Gade’s decision yesterday not to fire his ministry chief Lars Findsen, who had misinformed him about the Arabic translation.

Three quarters of those polled believe Findsen should be fired. Britze has been suspended for producing the translation and Defence Command chief Tim Sloth Jørgensen has resigned over the scandal.

Gade said he was humbled by the public support but didn’t agree with the criticism of Findsen.

Findsen simply said the decisive factor in his job was that the minister trusted him.

The opposition political parties have toned down their criticism of the minister and now back his wish to await the military's Judge Advocate General’s investigation of the scandal.