War Book Controversy: Who's the Liar?
Toby Harnden, author of the controversial, recently published book "Dead Men Risen," wrote, on March 18, a blog article in The Telegraph, in which he said that - despite earlier contradictory statements from the Estonian side - the Estonian Defense Ministry had indeed contacted him and the book's publisher.
Harnden, the US editor of The Telegraph, said he expects an apology from Aaviksoo for calling him a liar. "I believe that Mr Aaviksoo had accused me of telling deliberate untruths and has stated something that is demonstrably false by denying that any letter was sent to me," wrote Harnden.
A few days before, on March 16, Estonia's Defense Minister Jaak Aaviksoo had said in an interview to ERR radio that, "Neither I nor, to my knowledge, any of the Defense Ministy's officials, have in any way contacted the author or the publisher, or pressured them in any way."
A day before, the Ministry of Defense gave several statements to the media, saying that it had been in contact with its UK counterparts. However, no media reports had acknowledged a letter to Harnden or the publisher. Whether Aaviksoo had simply been uninformed or lied outright is not clear. The ministry's press office asserts the former.
The letter sent to Harnden on February 22 had the header "Ministry of Defence, Republic of Estonia." It was addressed to Harnden and the chairman of his publishing company, and signed by Taimar Peterkop, Aaviksoo’s Undersecretary for Legal and Administrative Affairs.
It states:
By not contacting the families of the fallen soldiers before publishing gruesome details about their loved ones’ passing, you have failed to respect their memories and their right to privacy [...] We would like to inform you that publishing the book with any personal data or information regarding Estonian soldiers can only take place provided the consent of their familes has been obtained. Not complying with the afore-mentioned conditions may result in legal action taken.
Harnden said he thought it strange "to deny that any kind of pressure was exerted while also insisting that you did not send any letters when in fact you did."
"Dead Men Risen: The Welsh Guards and the Real Story of Britain's War in Afghanistan" was published on March 17, after the first print run, 24,000 copies, was bought up completely by the British Ministry of Defense. The British ministry and military pressed hard to stop publication of the book - which chronicles the war in Afghanistan - citing fears that it may impact Estonia's parliamentary elections on March 6, and ultimately prompt Estonia to pull out of the conflict, the author said.
The Estonian side says their only concern has been with descriptions involving sensitive personal data. Harnden complied, in removing parts of the text from his final work.
In the 610-page book, Estonians appeared on 16 pages. "But the Estonians have loomed large in the MoD's attempts to stop my book," Harnden said in his March 18 article. This ostensible contradiction has spurred speculation that the British government used Estonia as a tool to censor the book, which criticizes the British military for what Harnden said were ill-equipped operations.
Ott Tammik