Was it all much ado about nothing? Or was it a legitimate case of risky business? Whatever the real reason is (or if in fact the report is true) Britain’s Prince Harry will not be going with his unit to Iraq.
According to Britain’s top general, sending Harry was simply too dangerous. Gen. Sir Richard Dannatt, the army chief of staff who recently traveled to Iraq to assess the situation prior to the prince’s deployment said today, “the changing situation on the ground exposed the prince to too much danger.”
The general went on to say that specific threats to harm the third in line to the throne exposed Harry and his fellow soldiers to a degree of risk that was “unacceptable” so the prince will no longer be traveling to Iraq. Of course, the massive media scrutiny of Harry’s potential deployment couldn’t have helped matters either.
Shortly after the announcement the office of Harry’s father, Prince Charles, issued a statement that expressed Harry’s disappointment that “he will not be able to go to Iraq with his troop deployment as he had hoped.” The statement went on to read “Prince Harry’s thoughts are with the rest of the battle group in Iraq.”
According to the general, the 22-year-old prince will remain in the armed forces (he is currently a tank commander trained to lead a 12-man team in four armored reconnaissance vehicles). If his superiors hadn’t halted his deployment Harry would have been the first member of the British royal family to serve in a war zone since his uncle, Prince Andrew, piloted helicopters in the Falklands conflict with Argentina more than 20 years ago.
Frankly, I can’t see how Prince Charles could have in good conscience sent his youngest son to the war torn region after reports surfaced that Iraqi insurgents planned to kill or kidnap Harry. Knowing that my son’s picture had been widely circulated among militants would be enough for me to pull rank and keep him closer to home. But that’s me. I’m sure Harry is a professional solider who wanted to be with his fellow troops, especially after all the training they completed together.
The general did emphasize that Harry’s presence would be missed in Iraq. Though, I get the feeling that his presence would be missed by many more should the prince been kidnapped, tortured and killed.
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