From: <a href="http://www.aftenposten.no/spesial/wikileaksdokumenter/article3965556.ece">Aftenposten</a><br>
Date: 2007-10-15
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 COPENHAGEN 000970
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
STATE FOR EUR, EUR/NB, EUR/PPD, NEA, AND INR DOD FOR OSD-POLICY -
HURSCH, AND DASD MIKE DORAN
E.O. 12958:
DECL: 10/15/2027
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, PTER, KISL, DA
SUBJECT: DENMARK´S NASER KHADER TWO YEARS AFTER THE MOHAMMED CRISIS:
POSTURING TRUMPS POLICY

1. (U)
Classified by CDA Sandra Kaiser, reasons 1.4 (B) and (D).

2. (C)
Summary. Two years after the Mohammed cartoon crisis
catapulted him to prominence, Syrian-born Danish member of
parliament Naser Khader still fascinates and frustrates.
Khader used his post-cartoon crisis fame and considerable
personal charisma to launch a pro-democracy Muslim NGO and a
new centrist Danish political party. Yet even as he still
consistently polls as one of Denmark´s most popular
politicians, Khader´s influence is waning. He has long left -
some say abandoned - his NGO, and political observers here
have scratched their heads as Khader´s new party has
squandered considerable political capital on poor execution
and a thin policy platform. Friends and foes talk openly of
Khader as a smooth but flaky policy dilettante who has
mastered the art of political communication but cannot deliver
on substance. Devout Danish Muslims keep their distance.

3. (C)
Summary continued. Khader also cannot figure out what he wants
from the USG. In the aftermath of the cartoon crisis Khader
personally has distanced himself from us, at times in
unhelpful ways. Khader recently issued a harsh and public
personal attack on Ambassador Cain, criticizing the Embassy´s
successful efforts to reach out to a broad spectrum of the
Muslim community here. Khader has also set his new party on a
foreign policy course critical of the USG, particularly in the
Middle East. Khader still regularly travels to the U.S. and
seeks meetings with USG and private contacts to burnish his
image here at home as a policy heavyweight. Khader is, for all
his faults, an important politician here who, when he engages
constructively, can move the political center in Denmark. His
new party, while now diminished in the polls, could still be a
kingmaker in a future Danish government. Washington
interlocutors should make clear to Khader that he cannot shore
up an eroding political base at home by engaging in
opportunist attacks on USG personnel and policies in Denmark.
We should express to Khader a readiness to engage with him
seriously and substantively, provided that he does so with us.
End Summary.

Trial by Fire...
----------------

4. (C)
It is now a little over two years since the Mohammed cartoon
crisis exploded and enveloped an unprepared Denmark in an
international firestorm of Muslim rage and retribution. The
crisis left in its passage a long list of victims, including
Danish government credibility in the Islamic world and Danish
exports to the Middle East. Another legacy was testy relations
between Denmark and its Muslim community and within the Danish
Muslim community itself. Only one man seemed to emerge from
the Mohammed crisis with integrity and image not only intact
but enhanced - Danish Member of Parliament Naser Khader.
Khader, a Syrian-born Palestinian whose family emigrated to
Denmark in 1974, won the hearts of secular ethnic Danes during
and after the crisis by attacking Muslim reaction to the
cartoons as overwrought and hypocritical, and by proclaiming
Denmark´s free speech laws inviolate, particularly in the face
of violent attack. Ethnic Danes saw Khader as the ideal "new
Dane," an Arab whose family successfully integrated in Denmark
and elevated their son through education and hard work to
become a member of Denmark´s political elite.

5. (C)
Khader repeatedly castigated Danish Muslims for failure to
appreciate and defend the democratic freedoms that he said had
given many of them shelter as refugees or asylees. He saved
particularly withering attacks for Danish imams who traveled
to the Middle East at the height of the crisis and who, as
seen from Denmark, added fuel to the cartoon fire by spreading
misinformation and rumors about the cartoons and the treatment
of Muslims in Denmark. In February 2006, Khader established
the NGO "Democratic Muslims," which Khader and co-founders
launched as a rallying point for moderate Muslims in the
conviction that "we are the proof that Islam and democracy are
not incompatible." Khader´s launch of Democratic Muslims met
with an outpouring of financial and moral support from ethnic
Danes, who joined an associated "Friends of Democratic
Muslims" in the tens of thousands. Khader and Democratic
Muslims (DM) quickly rose to prominence across Europe as they
toured the conference and seminar circuit in the hope that
other European Muslims would "react and follow our lead."

COPENHAGEN 00000970 002 OF 003

Two Promising Projects Wither on the Vine... 
--------------------------------------------

6. (C)
Khader wanted Democratic Muslims as an organization to focus
exclusively on promoting integration and democratic values,
while other DM co-founders wanted to enlarge DM´s agenda to
address other political issues of concern to Muslims (the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict, etc.). Khader stepped back as
these internal conflicts intensified, leaving DM rudderless.
Khader also in April/May 2006 largely withdrew from public
view after he became the target of threats from within
Denmark´s Muslim community, who saw Khader´s secular and
democratic agenda as a betrayal of Islam.

7. (C)
When Khader re-emerged, however, it was to leave DM and turn
his attention back to Parliament, where he fought with other
(Social Liberal) party members over the party´s positions on
Muslim integration and other domestic issues. Khader, still
enjoying significant popularity in the polls, soon emerged as
a serious internal threat to his party´s leadership. After a
series of increasingly public spats with party leaders in
early 2007, Khader announced in May that he was founding
Denmark´s first new political party in a decade, New Alliance
(NA). Khader´s stated goal in founding NA was to position it
to replace the anti-immigrant (and frequently anti-Muslim)
Danish People´s Party in any future right-of-center
government. New Alliance immediately registered polling
support from 12 - 13 percent of Danish voters, putting it in
the ranks of those parties that could make or break future
governments. Yet over the course of the summer, NA delayed
again and again the launch of its party platform and lost
valuable momentum. Poll numbers fell, and by the opening of
the Parliament in mid-September, NA´s support numbers had
fallen to around 5 - 6 percent. Khader again dithered as
initial supporters asked for policy positions and threatened
to withdraw financial support to the new party. Khader´s party
now struggles in the polls, a spent force even before it
contests its first election.

Comment: What Does Naser Khader Want? 
-------------------------------------

8. (C)
Khader´s experience with both Democratic Muslims and New
Alliance reinforces a view confirmed to us by other
parliamentary contacts, that of Khader as a personally
charismatic and media-savvy politician who is unable to follow
through on his best intentions. One prominent parliamentarian,
who has tangled publicly with Khader but also told us he
respects Khader´s political instincts, nevertheless described
him as "flaky" when it came time to turn ideas into concrete
policies. Khader himself seems unperturbed by these
increasingly public criticisms, either wrapping himself in a
cloak of victimhood or redirecting fire away from himself by
attacking others.

9. (C)
One of his increasingly preferred diversionary tactics is to
attack the USG. Khader rarely pronounced on USG foreign policy
during and after the Mohammed cartoon crisis, but as he moved
away from DM and toward New Alliance he began issuing frequent
criticisms of U.S. Mid-East policy, usually focused on the war
in Iraq or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A favorite theme
following New Alliance´s founding has been Guantanamo and
detainee policy. Ambassador Cain has personally reached out to
Khader many times over the past year to discuss, among other
issues, both those that Khader has criticized us for and to
seek common ground with Khader on our very active outreach
program to Denmark´s Muslim community. Khader has ignored
nearly all our invitations (accepting only one to a reception
for a visiting Congressional delegation), but has continued to
attack us in the press. Khader issued a particularly severe
personal attack on Ambassador Cain on October 12 regarding the
Ambassador´s recent Iftar dinner held on October 4. Khader
took issue with two guests on our Iftar dinner list, claiming
they were Islamic extremists and calling Ambassador Cain a
"useful idiot" for hosting them (along with more than 30
others from half a dozen different Danish Muslims
organizations). Khader also, in a bizarre event associated
with a visit to the U.S. earlier this year, attacked the U.S.
public broadcaster PBS for "censoring" him when it delayed
publication of a documentary that featured Khader, portraying

COPENHAGEN 00000970 003 OF 003

the discussion as "the U.S." succumbing to public pressure
from Islamic extremists. Khader said he had much to teach U.S.
authorities about "the danger of giving in to Islamists."

10. (C)
Khader continues to make regular visits to the U.S., and it is
worth continuing to reach out to him. Khader remains a popular
politician in Denmark who is able to shape the opinions of
centrist Danes. We no longer view Khader as a useful contact
in promoting Muslim integration in Denmark. He has been so
vocal and extreme in his attacks on both observant Muslims and
our programs that we alienate more Muslims by working with
Khader than by ignoring him. The vast majority of observant
Danish Muslims don´t agree with the DM agenda and view Khader
as a polarizing figure. Washington audiences, in conversations
with Khader, should remind him why the U.S. seeks to engage
broadly with Muslims in Europe - even those who do not
necessarily agree with us - and the danger of harsh anti-U.S.
invective. Unfortunately, for now, Naser Khader is more
interested in opportunist posturing than in sincere dialogue
and engagement. We welcome the day when he might change that
approach.

KAISER
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