If You Dither Long Enough, the Problem Disappears

The Murdoch Times has printed another story highlighting the dangers which face Iraqis who have helped the British occupying forces, while modestly claiming sole credit for inducing the Government to think about offering some of them asylum. The Times states that "the Government has been reviewing whether the Army's 90-odd interpreters should be offered sanctuary in Britain" (emphasis added); and it does not appear to have occurred to the Times, the Government, or Her Majesty's Opposition that there might be a few other ways in which the British forces have been aided by Iraqis, and hence a few more than ninety-odd people in danger of being dragged away and murdered. It would, of course, be uncharitable to suppose that the Government commissioned its two-month interdepartmental review in order to allow the death squads to reduce the size of the problem; but there does seem a certain lack of urgency. A pity the Government didn't exercise a similar capacity for long, hard thought before following the Bush administration into this bloody mess.

If you have not already done so, please write to your MP and invite them to the meeting on 9 October, at which the main speaker will be a British soldier who hired several Iraqis and is still in contact with some of them. Ask your MP to request the presence of the Home Office, the Ministry of Defence and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and let them know that the press and the television cameras will be there too.