Iraqi Interpreters To Sue British Government

A group of 25 Iraqis who aided British forces in Iraq, mostly through interpreting services, will sue the government over inadequate security against retaliation from Iraqi militias who consider them traitors, the Times Online reports:

The group, which failed to benefit from an assistance scheme offered by Britain, said that they were owed a duty of care.

The Government has relocated just over 200 former workers and, where appropriate, their immediate families to Britain under the assistance programme, launched two years ago after a campaign in The Times about the plight of Iraqi interpreters.

However, because the protection scheme required that an interpreter serve at least 12 consecutive months since 2005, almost 700 others failed to qualify, the Times report notes.

The British Foreign Ministry defends itself with that rationale that it has to draw the line somewhere. From the Telegraph:

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We have made a decision to focus assistance on those staff who have had a sustained association with us in the most difficult circumstances.

"Wherever we draw the line, there will be difficult cases."

Sapna Malik, who is representing the plaintiffs and coordinating the class action, told the BBC that, "the Ministry of Defence (MoD) could certainly have taken better steps to protect the identities of interpreters and in certain cases they should have housed the interpreters on the bases," and that, "financial compensation will go a significant way to reduce the hardship they've been suffering."

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