Prince Harry in Afghanistan

[TheAnimus]

I'm 100% against us being in Iraq and want every soldier to be brought home.

Isn't that abit like walking out of a restraunt without paying the bill? We kinda destroyed the political structure, and the infrastructure. You might be against the invasion, but you can still support the occupation. Saying the whole lets pull out our troops is either selfish (ie save our lives and our money) or as blindly neive as the people behind the 'uprising' in the first place.

Even if you're The Great?

Great enough to rule the known world, not apparently to be king according to stuart.

[nichomach]

Isn't that abit like walking out of a restraunt without paying the bill? We kinda destroyed the political structure, and the infrastructure. You might be against the invasion, but you can still support the occupation. Saying the whole lets pull out our troops is either selfish (ie save our lives and our money) or as blindly neive as the people behind the 'uprising' in the first place.

I pretty much agree with this, actually; I made the mistake of giving our lords and masters the benefit of the doubt when we went in. I assumed that they had reasonable grounds for doing so even if they couldn't release what they were - my bad! Having screwed Iraq up completely, I do think we have a responsibility to the Iraqis, and more than that I think if we leave now we'll create a massive security problem; there weren't any Al-Qaeda in Iraq before we went in, but there sure as hell are now, and I'm not quite naive enough to believe that they'll magically quit if we just pull out. I just bitterly regret that at a time when we probably need another battle group in Afghanistan, it's tied up in Iraq. Tim Collins described Iraq as an optional war and Afghanistan as a necessary war and opined that it was an option that we shouldn't have taken; I think he was pretty much bang-on.

Oh - didn't the Scots have 3 kings called Alex...?

[Stewart]

Most of the known world.

And I said no King Alex. Alexander is fine.

No King Steve. King Stephen is fine.

Keep up kiddies.

Old Ally the Great was a bit light on his feet as well... what a terrible sight it must have been, as he minced over the horizon with his troops... you should have seen the mess after the battle of Issus! Nightmare!

[godsdog]

BBC NEWS | UK | Harry withdrawn from Afghanistan

no great surprise.

[Krakkenbus]

Indeed.

I'm really not sure why the MOD won't let him finish his last two weeks of this tour. He definitely isn't the
first royal to have fought in a war. Prince Andrew for example was a helicopter pilot during the Falklands and he wasn't removed from combat early.

Why would you join the army if you weren't allowed to fight?

[nichomach]

True, but to a certain extent you can't really capture a helo pilot in the same way that you can with a soldier in the field.

[pollaxe]

Plus the Argentinians weren't noted for their beheading of captured troops, though the Taliban are in good company with the Gurkhas in that respect.

I've a feeling Randy Andy flew special forces flights too at one point of his career... could be wrong on that, though.

Keep up kiddies.

Old Ally the Great was a bit light on his feet as well... what a terrible sight it must have been, as he minced over the horizon with his troops... you should have seen the mess after the battle of Issus! Nightmare!

Spoken like someone who was there? Mind you, most of them were a bit light on their feet/not too fussy back then, I believe....?

[Stewart]

I wasn't there, I've seen it on YouTube.

[pollaxe]

Hot Issus Man-on-Man Action?

[kalniel]

I have to cop out on this one and say let the people with the expertise decide - I don't have enough knowledge about the situation, the risks, likely scenarios etc. to be able to make a decision.

[ajones]

I'd like to see King Colin or King Trevor... or Nigel...

On the Harry front, if it was just him in the firing line, then ok, he can stay if he wants, but he's put his whole comapny at risk which I don't agree with.
However I should have also voted C, as I don't support these illegal wars tbh. Afghanistan, did we not learn anything from the Russian occupation?

Forget learning from the Russian occupation mate. This isn't the first time the Brits have been in Afghanistan.

Bring the toss pot back. He'll be learning far too many bad habits from those army boys.

And my vote is for Queen Harry. That'd be a turn up for the books!

[|_GuNsLiNgEr_|]

I hate how much the Royal Family have been shouting his praises...everyone else in the army doesn't get praised for doing there duty.

I'm not sure on the situation over there, btu i believe he will be risking his comrades lives if he stays out there now.

[Bluecube]

On the small side issue, his name is Henry. Everyone just calls him Harry.

I said bring him back cause he'll become a magnet for the nutters out there.

[iranu]

I think he should be allowed to stay. This war is of a different nature to Iraq. Basra is a small place compared to Helmand* province and because it was an urban environment it is much easier for insurgents et al to hide, gather intelligence on him as a target. There was also a much higher chance of IED or ambush in Basra.

In Afghanistan he could be just about anywhere where the British are and there's 7,000 of them so I don't think he would endanger the lives of the men he's with. There maybe the chance that the Taliban could get lucky with a spy or a bullet but I think his main enemy is the (British) press. Now it's out in the open they won't be able to contain themselves and there will be some A-hole report the area he's in. There should be a press blackout.

Prince Andrew and Prince Phillip served and were in dangerous occupations so I don't see why he can't, afterall it's his job and he's chosen to do it and I respect him for that, he could have chosen an easier path. Shame that the politicians who signed up for this war don't have sons and daughters serving.

* Hellmans should bring out Hellmands Mayonnaise; it's like the normal stuff but with opium in it.

[Saracen]

I have to cop out on this one and say let the people with the expertise decide - I don't have enough knowledge about the situation, the risks, likely scenarios etc. to be able to make a decision.

I agree with that, though I can't see that they really had any option but to do what they did and pull him out.

Or maybe one other option - say they've pulled him out but are keeping operational details confidential for security reasons, and he's now gone to XYZ base for debrief ..... while actually letting him stay put. They might get away with the extra couple of weeks needed 'til his scheduled return that way.

Of course, it's one thing having a cosy little conspiracy of silence between press and establishment in order to mislead the public by omission, and it's erntirely another either for the establishment to overtly lie to the press or the press to lie to us. I mean, our great leaders would neverr lie to us, would they? And those Iraqi WMD will turn up eventually.

[Betty_Swallocks]

If our "leaders" can't go to war and lead us then what good are they?

Time was when a king/prince wouldn't be able to hold his head up if he wasn't on any given battlefield. If he got killed then so be it. That was the price of his position. His namesake, King Harold would not have hung back in case he got hurt in 1066. He went out against William (ironic choice of names don'cha think?) and got an arrow in his eye.

Why should it be any different now?

What does he personally contribute to the nation otherwise apart from providing paparazzi with a lucrative income as he travels from one party to another?

In what way would the country be a poorer place if he were to be killed in action?

Please note that I'm not hoping that he would be killed, I just don't see why his life is more important than that of any mother's son just because he happened to be born into one of the most over privileged families in the world.