Royal Shame
As the Poms yank Harry. Donkeys. I’ll let the colonials do the honors. Sydney Morning Herald, Back to Blighty for Prince Harry:
PRINCE Harry is about to head home to Britain after news of his deployment spread after being published on a US political website.
Britain’s Chief of the Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Jock Stirrup, last night confirmed the army was pulling Harry out of Afghanistan.
TV interviews with the Prince were broadcast yesterday after the Drudge Report website broke the story - six weeks after a report on New Idea magazine’s website went unnoticed. In Sydney, New Idea denied knowingly breaking the embargo. Australian media outlets were not asked to suppress the story, the British high commission said yesterday.
The Sun newspaper reported that army generals met on Thursday night to decide whether to rush the 23-year-old Household Cavalry officer home five weeks ahead of schedule because of the danger the media reports could put him and his fellow soldiers in.
“Harry is still out on operations in the Helmand desert with his troop of Household Cavalry - where he is considered safe for the time being,” the newspaper reported on its website.
“But top brass have accepted Taliban fighters will now be doing their all to find him.”
Exactly. In case the Brits haven’t noticed, every time the Taliban poke their heads up or stage an ambush, the Taliban die in large numbers. In addition to being a huge morale booster, Harry makes great bait.
Again, the value of having one of society’s elites on the front lines, shouldering part of the burden and risking the ultimate sacrifice, is inestimable. That’s why royals have always gone to war. You can’t lead from the rear and maintain much respect, and that holds with a largely ceremonial monarchy that is right now in the process of throwing away its one stab at relevance since Diana died. If they are worried about Harry being taken alive and paraded as a hostage, all they need to do is see to it that Harry is not taken alive. Or, like I said, give him a few Gurkhas. Looks like they already thought of that.
UK Telegraph with a little more on what Bonny Prince Harry has been up to. Be sure to check the Telegraph’s photo essay. Nice hat, Harry.
It was disclosed yesterday that the Prince has spent the past 10 weeks with British troops as a battlefield air controller.
The 23-year-old is the first member of the Royal Family in 25 years to serve on the front line.
During his time in action, the third in line to the throne has been operating only 500 yards from enemy positions, calling in air strikes and carrying out surveillance of Taliban fighters in Helmand province.
His military base has come under mortar and machine gun attack five times every day.
Good for you, Harry. Shame, Britannia. Is this how you’d rather have the commoners see your Royals?
Gateway with Galloway, Taliban not Harry’s enemy.
Meanwhile, different but in the same neighborhood, Blackfive with some American paratroopers in the ‘Stan, who would like to hear from you.
Topics: Afghanistan, Britain, military, moronocy
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 10:34 am on Friday, February 29, 2008
3 Responses to “Royal Shame”
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February 29th, 2008 at 10:45 am
It’s unfortunate that Harry was outed, and robbed of the only opportunity he’ll probably ever have to just be “one of the guys”. In any case, I give him props for garnering more leadership experience than either his father or his brother.
I don’t suppose it’s possible for a royal to go up as PM?
February 29th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
What Rebecca said.
February 29th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
Be interesting to see what the CO had to say about “Mr. Prince”…