This will open the floodgates to tens of thousands of Muslims to come to this country - all claiming fear of persecution and all backed by the immigration lobby in this country. There may be a pro-asylum consensus in the political establishment but what about the views of the British people? It's our country - not yours to just give away. Let these people go to another Arab country where they would fit in. How about Saudi Arabia. It's rich, Arabic-speaking, strongly Muslim and was opposed to Sadaam Hussein.

Mark, London,

Once again our authorities have shot themselves in their collective feet.
Showing the attitude of ' the Raj' taking & not giving , behaving like the world owes us , when in truth it's very much the opposite.
Had Britain accepted it's responsibilty, did the decent thing & quietly given permission to the interpreters, they would not have had this dilema .
We need friends in the Arab world , these people will continue to be pro British if treated fairly.
Stop being so damn condescending & give them their due, WITH GRATITUDE & recognition.

Maggie Millington, Brittany , France

So now anyone employed by the army in any warzone across the world can come to live here.
The people being treated with the most contempt by this government are the British, Thatcher took this society to new lows but compared to Blair and his socialist cronies that was nothing.

Steve, London,

Again this goverment plans to show it has no backbone and will let these people into our country which will eventually prove to be the tip of the iceberg and soon all the relatives will be on the march to the UK. Why dont this gutless goverment just hand our country over to those who see it as their Mecca and be done with it. Maybe be the answer is to emigrate as so manny of us brits are or are planning to do ASAP.

H W Wilson, Essex, Great Britain

So it seems we let people into our country who we know nothing about and have done nothing for Britain.

But it would appear that those people who have put their lives at risk by helping us can't get sanctuary here.

Our countries policies just get worse and worse!

Francis, Birmingham,

'Shukrun' is what I remember from my childhood in Arabic speaking countries-Thankyou-
We learned to respect and speak the pleasantries of a difficult language, I may have forgotten lots of words , but some basic ones still surface, Thankyou is the word we must always remember!! Actions speak louder than words!!

maggie snook, wool wareham, Dorset UK

Why is this Government and its highly paid officials so stupid., its obvoius when this matter became public they would have to do the honourable thing.

N Fee, Workington, Cumbria

Time and time again Britain treats all of those non nationals who help us out in sticky situations ,with absolute ingratitude and contempt.
Our arrogance is legendary. As above , the wonderful Gurkhas
are a prime example, even those who served with the camel corps in the Sudan , and elsewhere. Or even when we abandoned Rhodesia, another example!!!!
In heavens name give these Iraqi translators a safe secure passage to the UK, thank them well ,please.

maggie snook, wool wareham, Dorset UK

The British Government has a long history of treating very poorly people who have helped the United Kingdom overseas. One has only to remember the very shabby treatment of former Gurkha soldiers as an example. Many have fought for the United Kingdom and then not even given the right to reside in the country for which they fought for. What a shame and a disgrace. Members of the French Foreign Legion become French citizens.

Charles Morgan , Madrid , Spain.

But look what it took to get the British Government to back down.
Question: Why was it necessary to be forced into a position of having to 'back down'? Doesn't the British brain recognise that when someone has gone out on a limb for you, you support them to the hilt?
Answer: The empire wasn't built by being nice to people. The empire may be gone; the basic attitude remains. How pathetic!

Dave Reynolds, Selby, UK

How pathetic! as usual UK policy is made by reference to the US (and the Danes). Do we not have the nouse to say what we believe and stand by it?

oldasiahand, Guildford, UK

Whitehall playing a numbers game is a little disingenous. Latest immigration figures show approximately 600,000 Eastern Europeans have relocated to the UK in the last few years, with approximately 400,000 UK residents emigrating. The influx of Eastern Europeans has been generally beneficial, although various racist groups dispute this. As such, 15,000 Iraqi's, who by definition would be pro-British, represents something like 2.5% of the newly arriving immigrants from Eastern Europe. This is not a significant amount. As such the offical who seems to think it is impossible to accomodate 15,000 immigrants should look at his own statistics, which demonstrate we do this many times over every year. Even if every Iraqi who had worked with us were allowed asylum, it would not make a greate deal of difference to the overall picture of migration in the UK. This highlights the vileness of Whitehall officials and Gordon Brown's government trying to abrogate their responsibility.

Peter, London,