CAMP BASTION HAS come under attack by the Taliban. Sadly one American soldier was killed and five others wounded. The Taliban, thought to have numbered 20, lost 18 and had one captured – whose treatment by the Americans will now be closely overseen by Amnesty International and Liberty; to name but two of the multifarious human rights organisations.
The media, including Sky News and the BBC, are behaving as if this attack on Camp Bastion was some kind of Tet Offensive, which, in 1968, proved to be the final straw that broke the camel’s back for America in Vietnam.
The media got their teeth into this story and decided to shake it for all it was worth…which, in reality, meant very little. But when you are a 24-hour news broadcaster having to repeat the same stories on a 15 minute cycle, such an attack breaks the monotony; and if there is a British monarch involved, then hyperbole becomes reasoned analysis.
This minor attack has been elevated by media commentators (many of them respected; and as such should have known better) into a crises. They have played into the hands of the Taliban by inflating this attack into a victory of a magnitude that gives the Taliban God-like status within the Muslim world, simply because of what the Muslim world would see as flattering comments made by Western journalists, whose comments they see on satellite television and other modern media.
Of course the involvement (be it at the periphery) of the third in line to the throne, they would suggest, makes this a major story. But does it really? A Taliban ‘source’ told a Western journalist that Prince Harry was the main target; but, as a footnote, he added that the rancid anti-Muslim video also had a role to play. Now talk has begun about bringing Harry home.
I hope this will not be the case. First of all, Prince Harry would fight such a proposal and quite rightly so. He would be humiliated by any such suggestion, and it would do him great harm in his future life psychologically, knowing that he was taken from the battle field by the monarchy for fear of him being killed. A fear which his comrades share each and every day throughout their posting, and one which Harry needs to share if he is to fulfil a proper military role.
“THAT HE WHICH hath no stomach for this fight, Let him depart; his passport shall be made”.[1] Is this to be the end of a prince whose namesake took on the mighty majesty of the French nobility at Agincourt?
I know that in this cynical world of the early 21st century such a sentiment, even if written by the Bard himself, is either deemed reactionary or comical.
We have a soldier prince and should allow him to pursue his profession. It is a deeply dangerous profession, but one which his ancient ancestors took hold upon and brought victory to their country.
Cruelly described as the spare, Harry needs a role in life to fulfil, and to perform such a role without being treated as a piece of Ming dynasty china.
The Camp Bastion raid was just that – a raid. It served no purpose other than to send the Western media into a frenzy of excitement because of Prince Harry’s ‘involvement’.
I truly appreciate a free media, but it behaves at times as if it is serving its own interest by promoting a news story; which it hopes to win an award for.
Harry should stay where he is and continue the battle against the Taliban, until his cowardly political masters return him and the whole British involvement in Afghanistan back home, as they intend to do by 2014.
Prince Harry knows what he wants. He is a soldier prince, and as such demands no favours. If he dies on the field of battle, then he will have suffered the same fate as over 400 other young men and women who fought for their country.
We should not pull Harry from the field of battle. He should, as an Apache co-pilot, in charge its formidable armoury, allow him to use it in defence of his comrades whether British or American. He must be allowed to fulfil the role his family choose him for. It is what no doubt Harry would want and thrives upon. He knows that war is a lottery and if he engages in it, he must stand no greater chance of surviving it than any other soldier.
It is the chance that every soldier has to take, and Harry wishes no easier progress through his military career than any other of his comrades.
In the coming days after the Camp Bastion raid, there will be a flurry of talk within the media about whether Harry should be brought home. The palace should ignore such talk and allow the young prince to carry on with his duties. They must not, under any circumstance, kow-tow to the media by bringing Harry home until his term of duty has been completed. He should be allowed his one contribution he believes he can give to his country, as third in line to the throne.
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