British
Army 'Sending
Students To Iraq'
BBC
News
2-18-4
- The Army is reportedly paying students £200 a day to
put their degree courses on hold and fly to Iraq to work as Arabic
translators and interpreters.
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- The pay includes danger money, and the students have
to wear flak jackets and helmets, according to The Times.
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- The students sleep at Basra's British military
compound, in rooms with six to eight bunks, and wake at 0600 GMT for a
full Army breakfast, the paper reports.
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- And they take crash courses in military jargon, Iraqi
dialects and behaviour.
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- Each recruit is assessed at Westminster
University.
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- The Army's Defence School of Languages in
Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, is employing Iraqis to help prepare the
undergraduates.
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- Commanding Officer Lieutenant-Colonel Anthony Rabbitt
told the newspaper: "This is to make sure they know the difference
between a tank and a fish tank, and what it means when you talk about
armoured cars.
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- "Some people think an armoured car is what the Pope is
driven around in."
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- Once in Iraq, the students interpret for Iraqis on
Basra's streets and translate newspapers and documents.
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- 'Gap year'
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- Laura Culley, 21, of Weymouth, Dorset, said she and
her female friend were approached by recruiters from Kellog, Brown &
Root, a subsidiary of US multinational Halliburton, a civilian
contractor working for the Ministry of Defence, at Exeter University's
Institute of Arabic and Islamic Studies.
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- Her father, Andrew, a police officer, said: "She has
always been extremely independent-minded and has effectively taken a gap
year to work for the military in Iraq.
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- "They are obviously quite desperate for Arabic
speakers over there," he added.
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- "Her language skills are increasing
enormously."
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- © BBC MMIV
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- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3498307.stm
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