Denmark Pulls Out Dozens of Iraqi Aides [View All]

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Denmark Pulls Out Dozens of Iraqi Aides

Friday July 20, 2007 2:31 AM

By KARL RITTER

Associated Press Writer

KARUP, Denmark (AP) - Before the withdrawal of its 480
combat troops from Iraq next month, Denmark has pulled
out scores of Iraqi aides and their families.

The last of three Danish military flights carrying a total
of 200 Iraqis left Friday, the government said. The flights
were kept secret because of fears that militants would
try to attack the planes.

The aides, many of them translators, worked with the
Danes in Basra, a risky job that has turned them into
traitors in the eyes of militants fighting the U.S.-led
coalition. The government decided in June to offer the
aides a chance to seek asylum.

-snip-

“It's the right thing to do,” said Capt. Joergen Christian
Nyholm, who returned to Denmark in February after
commanding a mechanized infantry company in Basra for
six months. “My personal opinion is that they are at a
pretty high risk.”

-snip-

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6792579,00.html