Prince Harry to serve in Iraq?!
Prince Harry, third in line to the throne of sixteen countries, is going to be sent to fight in Iraq within the month. Does anyone else find this a spectacularly bad idea? It has nothing to do with Prince Harry’s qualifications (for all I know, he’s an excellent killer) and everything to do with the simple fact that the presence of royalty in a combat zone is a huge liability. You don’t send royalty out to fight your wars; you send your faceless soldiers, the ones that people (except for their families, of course) don’t care too much about if they die.
Prince Harry’s contributions to the war will be very minor compared to the very major risks that his presence on the battlefield present. Imagine the huge loss to Britain if he is killed in battle! Or even worse, if he is captured, tortured, and beheaded on grainy cellphone video? Or even worse, what if he is only captured and tortured, and the United Kingdom is put into the unenviable of having to commit thousands more troops to the war solely to locate and rescue their fallen prince?
Prince Harry won’t be fighting on equal terms with his unit; they’ll all be protecting him. As they should. It’s the next logical thing to do after the obvious command of “don’t send your royalty into battle” is violated. But this is no efficient way to wage war. And Prince Harry is going to be the target of every “insurgent” and “terrorist” out there. What better way to diminish a country’s will to fight than slaughter the figureheads it foolishly sends to battle?
February 21st, 2007 at 14:49
I don’t agree. If you feel so strongly, why didn’t you complain when he applied to Sandhurst? This is merely the expected outcome. I think all people should be treated equally, hence I am not a royalist. My only concern is that his being in Iraq will bring danger to other soldiers. I personally find it unacceptable that someone who was parading the ‘Nazi’ uniform not long ago, and who obviously has no sense of maturity, intelligence or compassion is most likely soon to be in charge of 12 British solders at war!
February 21st, 2007 at 14:53
Sorry, I’m not British, so I only tend to follow this stuff when it makes it into our American news. I don’t even know what Sandhurst is, but if you’re referring to when he initially joined the army, yes, had I known, I would have said something disapproving about it then.
A more recent article was talking about how elite police units were operating in Iraq ahead of Prince Harry’s arrival to keep him safe. This just isn’t how you fight wars. It simply doesn’t make sense to send such a high-value target in to fight the slog of the ground battle. Harry is just one tank commander. There’s nothing particularly special about the position, and lots of other people could’ve taken his place. The risk/benefits ratio is all off. The benefits of him serving in Iraq are small, but the potential risks are huge. Losing Prince Harry in Iraq would be disastrous.