Saturday 4 May 2013

Shame on Blair; Eyes on Heirs-to-Blair

History Corner about to repeat itself ?  This, from the days when I was just a stand-in guest-writer on C@W (May '07):
I must crave the indulgence of Slicker and his finance-oriented readership, for straying so far from the business theme whilst temporarily at the wheel of this vehicle. However, I was mightily stung by a report on Channel 4 News tonight. 

To summarise: the British Army, having employed the services of many Iraqi translators (and, let's face it, 'little helpers' of several kinds) since the invasion, is now preparing to let them twist in the wind. And they'll be the lucky ones. The threats and reprisals have started already. 

Now this is by no means unprecedented: previous withdrawals in unseemly haste from Palestine, Aden and Cyprus resulted in horrible fates for those locals who had helped us there. But the British Army had learned its lesson and when, in the days of the much maligned John Major we prepared to withdraw from Hong Kong, we carefully looked out for the interests of our sometime helpers to ensure that the worst didn't befall them at the hands of the incoming regime. 

So - the British Army knows better than this. We can only assume its current shameful stance is dictated by the Shameless ones who begat the sorry mess. Let them hang their heads
The arguments haven't changed.  Which way will the Coalition jump ? We shall see.

ND

9 comments:

Barnacle Bill said...

It should never have got to this stage, the Afghan interpreters should have been offered relocation to where ever.

Instead we have this sordid sequel now being played out under Cast Iron's leadership.

Very much B-Lair mark 2!

Anonymous said...

If NZ can admit them, why not UK?

andrew said...

smarter than average (just being fluent in 2 languages and staying alive indicates this) and speaking English - they should be welcome.

Electro-Kevin said...

Can we take it that - where there are translators seeking asylum for their own safety - that the extended missions to bring peace and liberty to those countries were successful ???

Blue Eyes said...

It's not the translators' fault that the whole sorry mess is a whole sorry mess.

This is exactly what asylum was designed for. These guys and Soviet intellectuals. Not the tattooed folk and Somali megafamilies.

James Higham said...

So - the British Army knows better than this. We can only assume its current shameful stance is dictated by the Shameless ones who begat the sorry mess. Let them hang their heads

Absolutely. If one goes in, one goes in wholly or not at all.

Anonymous said...

We went in to 'help' the county, I am not in favour of these neocon wars but do you seriously think they would have been better off under the taliban?
We need the best and brightest to stay in the country if they are to improve. If all the more intelligent and liberal minded Afghans move out with the coalition the country will move further backwards. All those who helped the coalition could run into tens of thousands of people.

Budgie said...

Well spotted ND, and you are right - we put them into danger so we have a moral responsibility to offer succour.

Agence communication said...

nice to see that "" Now this is by no means unprecedented: previous withdrawals in unseemly haste from Palestine, Aden and Cyprus resulted in horrible fates for those locals who had helped us there. But the British Army had learned its lesson and when, in the days of the much maligned John Major we prepared to withdraw from Hong Kong, we carefully looked out for the interests of our sometime helpers to ensure that the worst didn't befall them at the hands of the incoming regime.""