Iraqi Interpreters - the silence continues
Ministers unwilling to speak up for brave helpers - Times Online
Only one out of 16 serving and former ministers who have visited Iraq was willing to comment on the plight of the interpreters who are risking their lives to help the British authorities. Only 23 Iraqis and their families have been able to resettle in Britain so far.
The Times asked the politicians, who had been to Iraq on official business, whether they had used interpreters and, if so, how important they had been.
Only one, Adam Ingram, the Armed Forces Minister from 2001 to 2007, would speak. He told The Times that Britain could do more for the interpreters. “People took risks, and they were paid well, but I do think there is a sense of duty and responsibility towards them,” he said.
His openness was in contrast to the response of 15 other ministers and former ministers, Gordon Brown, Geoff Hoon, Jack Straw, Hilary Benn, Baroness Scotland, Des Browne, Bob Ainsworth, David Miliband, Kim Howells, Douglas Alexander, Mike O’Brien, Tony Blair, John Reid, Margaret Beckett and Lord Goldsmith.
There's fifteen names of people I wouldn't piss on if they were on fire, their interpreters risked their own and their families' lives in serving them, and not a bloody finger lifted to help.
