Here is the text of the government’s written statement on the Iraqi employees: On 8 August the Prime Minister announced a review of the Government’s assistance to our Locally Engaged staff in Iraq. The Defence Secretary, Home Secretary, Secretary of State for International Development, Chief Secretary to the Treasury and I have now agreed on…
Read More October ’08 and Out?IMPORTANT CAMPAIGN UPDATE – READ THIS NOW The Iraqi Employees campaign lobby of Parliament has been double-booked by Hazel Blears; we are therefore moving it from Committee Room 14 to the Attlee Suite, Portcullis House, in order to avoid the risk of contamination. The times are the same and are 1900-2100, Tuesday, 9th October 2007.…
Read More IMPORTANT CAMPAIGN UPDATE – READ THIS NOWSpecial campaign update: Whatever the Govt is leaking to the Times, we’re still going to leap into their back garden on Tuesday night. This campaign is not over until the people concerned are filing down the airstair at Brize Norton. You can still turn up, and you can still call your MP tomorrow. Even if…
Read More Mission Maintenu…I’ve gradually become addicted to Overcoming Bias, and specifically Eliezer Yudkowsky’s contributions to it. And it struck me, reading the reports on the de Menezes trial, that a good dose of this blog could have done the Metropolitan Police a power of good. Specifically, members of the police command staff recalled hearing a radio message…
Read More Death By BiasOK, there are six days to go to the bloggers’ lobby of Parliament, which is being held to demand asylum for the British Army’s Iraqi employees. And guess what? There’s still time to get involved. Call your MP today (the Parliamentary switchboard is 0207 219 3000) and ask them what their position is, remind them…
Read More D-6: Call Your MP NowI recently read about a Zimbabwean refugee who was sent a letter by the Home Office, which stated that his presence in the UK was “not essential for him to enjoy family ties with his new partner and her family”. The letter went on to demand that he leave “without delay” and that this might…
Read More Yours, Very Sincerely IndeedThis list of Blackwater boss Erik Prince‘s campaign contributions has been getting heavy-traffic blogger attention due to his donation to a fake Green Party candidate. There’s better, though: consider these two line items in relation to one another. Prince, ErikMcLean, VA 22102Prince Group/Chairman PRINCIPLES EXALT A NATION POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE $1,000 primary 01/04/06 Principles, eh?…
Read More Principles!The commander of Iraqi special forces (i.e. the Badr Corps, ex-36th ICDC Battalion, ex-1st Brigade ING…) in Basra is clear about the threat facing British employees in the city; far clearer than the Government. “All the interpreters have to leave Basra because these militia will never let them rest. They will kill everybody they know…
Read More We stand down, they stand upDo you want to take part in the very first blogging lobby of Parliament? More seriously, if you’ve already written to them and demanded that all our Iraqi employees are taken along with us before we withdraw from Iraq, here is your next set of instructions. On Tuesday, the 9th October, 2007, between 1900-2100 hours,…
Read More Bring your friendsThe Government is trying to define down the Iraqi employees it is under pressure to accept as refugees after the forthcoming UK withdrawal from Basra. With the Murdoch press, it is signalling that some 91 interpreters might be accepted, but at the same time that there are as many as 20,000 people involved. That figure…
Read More We Still Can’t Turn Them Away