Last Harrah
The best part about a combat deployment in Afghanistan? No paparazzi. A chance to be normal. via Boston Herald:
… he said his deployment was a welcome chance to escape from paparazzi and hostile headlines. He said it was probably the best chance he’ll ever get at being a normal person.
“To be honest with you the one nice thing is not knowing what’s in the paper, what kind of rubbish people are writing,” he said.
Harry, a regular in London’s nightclub circuit, has made steady headlines over the years. He’s been snapped wearing a Nazi uniform at a costume party, cavorting with strippers and scuffling with the photographers outside trendy London nightspots.
Interesting development in all this is that major British and American news organizations had agreed not to report on Harry’s deployment, after the government had a sit down with them and expressed concern about making him a target. Does this herald a new level of concern about national security, a reluctance to aid and abet the enemy? Don’t bet on it.
I don’t recall there was any secrecy about Uncle Andrew’s deployment in the Falklands War, when he flew helicopters that were being used as targets, to distract Exocet missiles from ships, as well as SAR and medevac missions.
I can see wanting to keep the paparazzi from mobbing Harry’s unit in its dusty digs in Helmand, though when you consider the potential for celebrity stalkers to be snatched by the Taliban … OK, never mind that. But again, given what happens virtually every time the Taliban attempt a frontal assault, there could be a significant upside to keeping young Harry with his unit. The British government is passing up a chance to make the royal family relevant and to dramatically boost support for the NATO effort in Afghanistan, as well as wax a lot of Taliban.
For other views, Malkin: Blabbermouth Drudge Backlash.
Gateway: Brit Islamists threaten Harry at home.
Common misconception of war, that you’ll be safer in the rear. Lesson learned, April 2003:
… to second-guess one’s options in a place like this was pointless anyway. Two reporters, Christian Liebig and Julio Anguito Parrado, chose to not to ride with the brigade that day. They told their editors by satellite phone that it was too dangerous. When we went in at dawn on the seventh, they stayed back in the brigade’s assembly area. That is where an Iraqi anti-tank missile found them …
It’s an extreme example. But the whole world’s a war zone today, and when you do the math, the west’s military dead overseas have only recently outpaced the civilian dead at home, from New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia to Madrid, London and Bali. That’s before you get to al Qaeda’s lust for civilian blood on Muslim turf, from Algeria to Pakistan. A lot of people, civilian and military, have died in a lot of places in this global war. Again, having one of the world’s elite, a British royal, engaged on the front lines is of inestimable value, and it is a shame that they are throwing this opportunity away.
Topics: Afghanistan, Britain, media, military
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:50 am on Saturday, March 1, 2008
4 Responses to “Last Harrah”
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March 1st, 2008 at 12:01 pm
[...] Crittenden: “The best part about a combat deployment in Afghanistan? No paparazzi.” And he works for a [...]
March 1st, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Muslim fanatics labelled Prince Harry a target for assassins last night after his heroics against the Taliban.
And the jihadis just keep winning friends and influencing people, don’t they? I think they’ll find that, as much as the British like to moan and complain about the royals, they will rally around them if they’re threatened. You just don’t threaten a royal and not get the crap kicked out of you.
March 2nd, 2008 at 12:53 am
I agree with Jules. Having the prince on the front line was important, not just for British citizens, but for those of that country who are also on the front lines.
March 2nd, 2008 at 10:22 pm
[...] case, because for once in his life, living in dirt in the company of men in Afghanistan, he was normal. You’re one of the blokes now in my book, [...]