- 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.
-
- The pay includes danger money, and the students have
to wear flak jackets and helmets, according to The Times.
-
- 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.
-
- And they take crash courses in military jargon, Iraqi
dialects and behaviour.
-
- Each recruit is assessed at Westminster University.
-
- The Army's Defence School of Languages in Beaconsfield,
Buckinghamshire, is employing Iraqis to help prepare the undergraduates.
-
- 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.
-
- "Some people think an armoured car is what the Pope
is driven around in."
-
- Once in Iraq, the students interpret for Iraqis on Basra's
streets and translate newspapers and documents.
-
- '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.
-
- 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.
-
- "They are obviously quite desperate for Arabic speakers
over there," he added.
-
- "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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