Officials in Iceland are calling for an investigation after several US Department of State dossiers on some of the country’s key politicians were released onto the whistle-blower website wikileaks.
The document can be downloaded here.
The documents detail the political attitudes towards American foreign policy of Icelandic Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir, Foreign Minister Össur Skarphédinsson, and former Icelandic Ambassador to the US Albert Jónsson.
One of the documents describes the left-leaning PM Sigurdardóttir as highly popular and having always supported the defense cooperation with the US. Other Icelandic politicians say she is “resolute and sometimes impatient and tends to act on her own.” The dossier also says she is in favor of Iceland quickly joining the EU and adopting the Euro as its currency.
Össur Skarphédinsson
Another says Skarphédinsson is “fond of America” and has “had close ties to the US Embassy for many years,” although his position is at times in opposition with that of the US government. It also describes him as “an academic who had drifted into politics.”
Former Ambassador Jónsson is said to be easily offended when he feels Icelanders aren’t being treated equally to other allies. “In private conversations he objected to explanations for the alleged use of CIA aircraft in Icelandic airspace weren’t received until after three weeks and that they were, in his opinion, unsatisfactory. Yet he worked with US diplomats on reducing the matter’s importance publicly,” the third document says.
Skarphédinsson has called for an investigation into the leak. “We need an explanation for why such documents are lying around for all to see,” he told Icelandic daily Morgunbladid.
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