In the searing heat of Basra, British troops patrol through deadly street ambushes, mounted by al-Mahdi Army gunmen fielding new and increasingly sophisticated Iranian weapons. The death of Private Craig Barber, which we report today, illustrates the dangers. These would be greater still without the local knowledge and language skills of their Iraqi interpreters. These unarmed civilians not only share the operational dangers by day; when they go home they risk vengeful assaults from within their own communities. They have shown not only courage but also loyalty. There is a bond of trust between them and the British military that goes beyond battlefield camaraderie. These men have wagered their own lives and the safety of their families on Britain’s pledge to restore order to their torn country.

Within weeks, the last British troops will pull back from the city centre, handing over to Iraqi military and police, with the goal of civil peace far from secured; so much is now plain. Death squads will come for these interpreters. British officers in Iraq are clear about the danger. So is the Ministry of Defence.

Britain’s incontrovertible duty is to stand behind these employees of the Crown. They need guarantees now, before the pullback, not the unconvincing drone of the Defence Secretary Des Browne’s promise yesterday to “move at the appropriate pace to get this policy right” and inform ministers some time in the autumn. Home Office mutterings, that if 91 interpreters were granted asylum, 20,000 Iraqis would join the queue, suggest that this issue is being viewed by some purblind bureaucratic penpushers solely in terms of immigration policy.

It is nothing of the kind. To begin with, the 20,000 figure is a wild exaggeration. The number of Iraqis working not just for the MoD but all British departments, as drivers and cleaners as well as interpreters, is currently around 600. In some parts of Iraq, their work is uncontroversial. Translators helping with interrogations in combat zones are obviously at high risk. Among Iraqis employed over the past couple of years, between 600 and 700 are judged by British sources in Baghdad to be in mortal danger. References to precedents and routine asylum procedures make, in this context, no sense at all. Britain’s interests point in the same direction as its duty. For a start, consider the operational implications, in Afghanistan now and in future engagements elsewhere, if Britain’s Armed Forces were to acquire a reputation for abandoning those at risk entirely because they had provided vital assistance. Loyalty is not a one-way street. Beyond that, a more imaginative approach would welcome these skilled and tested Iraqis as an asset to this country.

For years to come, military and counter-terrorism operations are going to require the services of trusted speakers and writers of Arabic. These Iraqi interpreters could come to Britain not as asylum-seekers, but as valued additions to the workforce. Many of them are highly qualified graduates; they could continue to serve the Armed Forces not just as interpreters but as analysts or language teachers. GCHQ could surely make use of them to monitor terrorist traffic; so most probably could MI5 and the police. These people, proven patriots, may one day return to Iraq. To deny them an escape now is to sign their death warrant. It is as simple as that, Minister.