Here’s our jaw-droppingly sick 2-minute leftist hate of the day, at the Guardian’s “Comment is free” pseudo-blog, where journalist Neil Clark argues that Iraqi translators working for UK forces are “traitors,” and should not be allowed asylum in Britain.

Instead, Clark hopes they’ll be slaughtered by the “true heroes” of Iraq. Yes, really.

Comment is free: Keep these quislings out.

The interpreters did not work for “us”, the British people, but for themselves - they are paid around £16 a day, an excellent wage in Iraq - and for an illegal occupying force. Let’s not cast them as heroes. The true heroes in Iraq are those who have resisted the invasion of their country.

As Seumas Milne wrote in yesterday’s Guardian: “More than any other single factor, it has been the war of attrition waged by Iraq’s armed resistance that has successfully challenged the world’s most powerful army and driven the demand for withdrawal to the top of the political agenda in Washington.” If more Iraqis had followed the example of the interpreters and collaborated with British and American forces, it is likely that the cities of Iran and Syria would now be lying in rubble.

Before you rush to condemn Iraqis who feel ill disposed towards the interpreters, ask yourself a simple question: how would you view fellow Britons who worked for the forces of a foreign occupier, if Britain were ever invaded? History tells us that down through history, Quislings have - surprise, surprise - not been well received, and the Iraqi people’s animosity towards those who collaborated with US and British forces is only to be expected.

Those who cheered on a brutal, murderous assault on a third-world country that was always going to result in mass loss of life would now like us to believe they are concerned over the fate of 91 people. But what I suspect worries the pro-war brigade most is not the future of the interpreters but that future military “interventions” may be jeopardised unless Britain promises citizenship rights to locals who collaborate.

“Let’s not overlook a practical military issue here: who will ever work for the British army in a war zone if they know that later they will be tossed aside like a spent cartridge?” asks Adam Lebor.

There is a simple answer to that “practical military issue”: let’s do all we can to keep the British army out of war zones. And in the meantime, let’s do all we can to keep self-centred mercenaries who betrayed their fellow countrymen and women for financial gain out of Britain.

If that means some of them may lose their lives, then the responsibility lies with those who planned and supported this wicked, deceitful and catastrophic war, and not those of us who tried all we could to stop it.

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