Prince Harry of the UK has been refused service in Afghanistan or Iraq, and this despite his desire to serve. The Daily Mail argues that Harry should serve on the front lines, as did Prince Andrew in the Falklands War.
Canada’s O’Connor calls on other NATO nations to step up their commitment in Afghanistan. A little known fact is that many of those serving in Afghanistan won’t let their soldiers anywhere near the volatile south. Canada, the UK, the United States, and a few small contingents from other countries are the only ones taking on the resurgent Taliban head on, out of a field of over 30 countries.
NATO’s commander claims that Afghanistan is at a tipping point and that this winter will be critical in saving the mission. He couples his announcement with a plea for more support. Is he genuine in his “tipping point” comment, or is it intended to leverage NATO partners to step up and shift forces to the south. Imagine being in charge of a force where most of your troops are not allowed in the “hot zone”.
With increasing effect, ISAF troops and the Afghan government are relying on traditional Afghan meetings, called Loya Jirgas, to give Afghans a voice and to quell the resurgent Taliban. Now, Afghanistan has extended a hand to Pakistani tribes in the border region, suggesting that cooperation via Loya Jirgas could be the way forward.
Increasingly, Pakistan’s security forces are coming under scrutiny both in India and Afghanistan. Their footprint is a trail of death and instability from Kashmir to Kabul, yet Musharraf denies it. Now, the NATO commander in Afghanistan is in a confrontational mood, armed with proof that Pakistani security forces are training Taliban and suicide bombers.
Details @ MediaRight.ca
cross posted: Celestial Junk
UPDATE: Since the comments seem to be focussed on Prince Harry the UK "spare", it put me in mind of a little something Junker from Cjunk penned a while back: Fatwa Fashion
Prince Harry should resign and join the French Foreign legion... or Canada's army, for that matter.
Andrew was in a helicopter and impossible to identify.
Harry is a soldier on the street, unless he was in Special forces he would be more of a distraction and draw resources away from the mission.
If he was SAS then 100% different, let him serve in a hot zone. Walking patrol.....no way. I wouldnt want to be in his unit, it would be like walking around with a bullseye on you.
Christoph: In the middle of the War on Islamic Fascism, Blair is cutting UK forces manpower. Australia has offered any UK former forces citizenship if they join Australia's army.
i served with the brit army, and i can tell u that if the prince deploys to the front lines, there is no way the taliban would be able to differentiate him from any other soldier...let the prince fight!
Kingstonlad,
Thanks for the comments. Please correct me on this one....wouldnt his unit be known? And once that is known wouldnt it be able to be tracked and identified?
I am not against him fighting as long as he doesnt become a magnet that puts others in his unit at increased risk...hence SAS or Andrew in a Navy Helicopter. Safely anonymous and able to do their jobs.
Kingston...how would the others in his unit react, and would you want to be the commanding officer who lost him?
I agree with Kingston Lad, As Prince Harry has stated he didnt go thru all the training shit to sit on his ass as his troops deploys. He is a soldier and want to fight let him fight.
Dam straight Harry should fight and he should be up front and center. If the "commoner" can stand up and fight for his country, so can the useless "monarchy" we financially support.
Good on Harry. His presence in battle will be a great morale booster for the troops and for Britain. At least he is willing to step up to the plate while Daddy Chuck sits on the sidelines as the quintessential socialist girlie-man.
Too bad more Brits didn't have Harry's grit. Maybe he should be the heir instead of the "spare"! England may once again become a world force instead of a wee whimper!
The British Army has, funny to say, never forgotten a major public relations disaster in the late nineteenth century when they allowed the Prince Imperial of France, then serving with a British unit in South Africa, to take to the field against the Zulu. His stirrup broke, he lost his horse and was immediately surrounded by assagi-wielding warriors (his fellow troopers said that the Prince calmly drew his pistol and walked directly into the enemy mass firing as he went -- what men used to live, eh!).
That having been said, the Prince's presence before his fatal mission was considered a constant annoyance to his commanders, for the reasons a previous poster has listed above: he was a distraction, he was (literally) dying to make a name for himself and he was a drain on resources.
i would think that by stepping up, the prince would inspire others, including canadian troops...and at the end of the day..it is his duty
when i was attached to the 1st british armoured div, there was more than one blue-blooded commisioned type in our ranks...the only way i knew, was the fact that the boys told me over a bevvy...other than that...all business
KING RICHARD THE LION HEART PRINCE HARRY THE CHICKEN HEART SQUAWK SQUAWK what a whimp
note to spurwing plover.....wtf????
You can bet the media would be the first to announce to the world, and the enemy, what unit Harry was in, and where he was stationed, and what patrols he would be on. I feel sorry for the reporter who would have to follow him.
Good to hear it is all business in the group, as it should be. The class system gets submerged by the rank system.
I agree, good on him that he wants to go, but its a Brit decision. But I would hate to see some innocent Brit get nailed because he happened to be near a major target, i.e. the Prince.
There is a difference between Lord Crotchrot's son and the third in line.....but once again a Brit decision.
Prince Bandar of Saudi didnt fight in the infantry, he fought in the Air Force where he was nice and safe and out of harms way.
Once again, as long as he doesnt distort things for the other men in the field, I say more power to him....he's the spare not the heir anyway. :->
I agree with Kingstonlad and others; he should serve with his unit, if they are deployed, or another unit, if he is fit, is needed, and has volunteered. WRT risk to the prince, so what. The royalty have inspired Britons at home, and at war; they have shared the load. I really don't care if the Taliban can figure out what unit he is in - don't they want to kill any western, pig-donkey jew loving whitie in uniform anyway? Let him go.
Stephen:
Why would Harry being in the military distort things for troop mates? I think Harry at least deserves a chance to prove himself.
MaryT:
In my opinion, reporters should not be allowed on the battlefield and should certainly not be allowed anywhere near the prince. Why not just put a red circle on his back that says "hit me" Reporters are generally a nuisance, and most don't report factually.
Harry in the military, treated like anyone else, would garner him respect and credibility. And, what is wrong with wanting to fight for freedom and democracy?
The world needs more young men like Harry. At least he has some moxie and is not a foppish, leftist, progressive prig.
Gypsy,
I am sure his unit would treat him like everybody else...it is the commanding officers you worry about, who wants to be the Liuetenant or Major who loses the prince, talk about a colonscopy on all your decisions and a major CLM.
But more importantly Harry is a target so dont you think the Taliban or Al Queda in iraq wouldnt target him to 1) Kill him 2) Capture him so they can hold for a prize, ransom or some ghoulish beheading transmitted to the world.
As I said, good on him that he wants to serve...but he would be better placed in SAS if he had the training.....anonymous by nature. A regular grunt in a television war....would be tough. Remove the TV and reporting on his unit and off he goes.
Once again a brit decision. One that likely only the Queen herself can make, she is commander in chief is she not?
Whether or not Prince Harry serves is "above my pay grade" as they say. However, I have mixed feelings about it.
On the one hand, I applaud the prince, and it would be a boost to British morale and a rallying cry to Britain to see that the kid has some balls.
On the other hand, if things went wrong, it could be tragic in every way.
I'm not concerned that public money would probably be used for the many bodyguards that would be around him. (When Al Gore was in-country, Americans had to pony up extra money for bodyguards to keep some VietCong from capping his useless ass.)
What I'm concerned about is that tango intel would go into hyper overdrive to try to locate Prince Harry. We don't know how secure his identity would be. Muslims are everywhere in Britain. We don't know who would leak what to whom.
If in fact the tangos were actually able to secure his location, they well might pour every resource they could possibly get into trying to kill or kidnap him. Who knows how many resources and military assets they could secure from Syria and Iran for a mission like that?
Then what have you got?
1) Prince Harry being decapitated on global TV?
2) Prince Harry being tortured until he is ready to denounce Western "imperialism" in the Mid-East and proclaim his conversion to Islam? (Yeah, I know about survival schools too, but everyone has his breaking point and you never know where that is going to be.)
3) Demands by tangos that the West pull out or Prince Harry will be killed or tortured? (What would that do to public support in Britain?)
4) How about Prince Harry supporting Britain, but very directly criticizing the US and George Bush for its "crusade" against Islam?
5) How about occasional clips of Prince Harry being tortured?
Well, I could go on like this. But I'm a dinosaur that doesn't even believe women should be in some of the combat roles they presently occupy. (You want to seem some gal repeatedly raped and impregnated, and then nine months later her baby tortured in front of her?)
Anyway, in my opinion, it ain't worth the kid being able to do a John-Wayne in-country with all the risk. At the same time, I admire the kid's spunk. And if he were in-country and survived, Britain would be able to have more admiration for the monarchy and him when/if he became king.
Al Gore had a bodyguard in VietNam????
I know he was a senator's son but geez he was a journalist!!
Learn something new everyday
Changing Harry out of his punk party Nazi uniform and into service in Afghanistan is the least the Royal Family can do to retain its honor. We've watched they Royal Family play across the National Inquirer for a decade now. A little salute to God & Country is far overdue from their off-spring.
Islamofascism isn't going to stop at the door of Buckhingham Palace. They have a stake in the outcome like the rest of us.
"Islamofascism isn't going to stop at the door of Buckhingham Palace. They have a stake in the outcome like the rest of us."
Quite true but sadly nobody was (nor still is) at home when al-Qaeda came calling. According to Melanie Phillips in her book "Londonistan", London is the European epicenter for promotion, recruitment and financing of Islamic terror and extremism.
Britain has become the home to 1.6 million Muslims, an important center for Islamic lobby and doctrinal groups, a world center for Arabic journalism, and home to a large collection of Islamist activists. Many of Osama bin Laden's fatwas were first published in London. Britain, if not most of Europe, is sleepwalking towards cultural oblivion and stand to lose their freedom as they know it.
The monarchy today is merely a collection of expensive figureheads. However, allowing Prince Harry to be deployed into Iraq or Afghanistan would go a long way to instilling some purpose, if not admiration, back into British royalty. T'would be a refreshing change from the nauseating titillations about Chuck and his vampire bride's socially conscious and utterly useless escapades we are forced to endure.
I do hope Harry wins this battle.
A Prince of a Muslim Islamist Terrorist: Mullah Dadullah.
Islam: A religion of baking bread, praying, beheading.
Memo to Taliban Jack: Negotiate 27 + 2 + 2= 31 beheadings. ...-
Watch Mullah Dadullah behead 31 infidels in new Taliban video
New Kerala ^ | October 10 2006
A Pakistan based private TV channel recently received a videocassette showing Taliban forces fighting the coalition forces in Afghanistan.
While the first part titled 'Rehbar', showed Mulla Dadullah Khan and his associates transporting ration and weapons. Mulla Dadullah is shown baking bread for fellow Taliban soldiers in a cave in Kandahar, and leading a prayer. Other sundry day-to-day activities in the video include footage of Taliban militants drinking water from ponds, washing clothes and bathing.
And then comes the grand finale, where Mullah Dadullah is shown beheading two British soldiers, two Afghan women and 27 Afghan soldiers, in all a...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1716771/posts
Anybody but me notice that it's the troops from English speaking countries (yes, I know Canada is officially bi-lingual) that are carrying the weight again. It happens all too often in UN sanctioned operations. The fight is carried on by US, Brits Canadians and Australians. Europeans are basically lily livered cowards and would not fight, even if, literally, their lives depended on it. This was also the case in the Korean conflict. NATO is a joke because most of its members are a joke. It pisses me off that Canadian soldiers are being killed, while Europeans in uniform refuse to see action, with the consent of their governments.