Prince Harry no longer deploying to Iraq.

[vortexring 0]

Hardly earth shattering news is it? Here's a statement from the BBC news website:

(This is the full text of the statement by the head of the British Army General Sir Richard Dannatt.)

"Over the last few weeks I have made a particular point of saying that I would keep under constant review my decision to deploy Prince Harry to Iraq with his troop.
As with any military operation, circumstances do change, and therefore so should decisions, if necessary.
I have decided today that Prince Harry will not deploy as a troop leader with his squadron.
I have come to this final decision following a further and wide round of consultation, including a visit to Iraq by myself at the end of last week.
There have been a number of specific threats - some reported and some not reported - which relate directly to Prince Harry as an individual.
These threats expose not only him but also those around him to a degree of risk that I now deem unacceptable.
Now that I have decided that he will not be deploying with his troop, the risks faced by his battle group are no different to those faced by any other battle group or other of our servicemen in Iraq.
I have to add that a contributing factor to this increase in threats to Prince Harry has been the widespread knowledge and discussion of his deployment.
Prince Harry is said to be disappointed
It is a fact that this close scrutiny has exacerbated the situation and this is something that I wish to avoid in future.
Let me also make quite clear that as a professional soldier, Prince Harry will be extremely disappointed. He has proved himself both at Sandhurst and in command of his troop during their training.
I commend him for his determination and his undoubted talent - and I do not say that lightly.
His soldiers will miss his leadership in Iraq, although I know his commanding officer will provide a highly capable substitute troop leader.
In conclusion, two further points: first I have asked Prince Harry's commanding officer to continue to develop Prince Harry's professional career in the Army, but I am not prepared to speculate, either now or in the future, on what Prince Harry might be doing over the next few weeks and months.
Second, I pay tribute once again to the excellence and commitment of all our servicemen deployed around the world and I thank them, and their families, for the way that they are doing their duty in the best traditions of the Armed Forces."


I guess there are many issue's to consider over all this - such as the greater threat to his soldiers and squadron - but me personally, I still think he should deploy.

This next part is someone elses opinion from the BBC news site which I happen to agree with:


"Suprise,suprise.Prince harry can`t go to Iraq because he would be a high profile target.But surely every british soldier in iraq or any other conflict is a target.So what is the point of Prince harry being in the army. Its like being a fireman but not being able to fight fires.Its almost as embarrasing as his father wearing a line of medals he didn`t earn in front of real soldiers on remembrance sunday."

Martin, Eastbourne

'for it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "chuck 'im out, the brute!" But it's "saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot.'

[willard 0]

It's a tough call, but in the end I think they made the right decision. The attention he would draw from the insurgents would put his fellow troops at much higher risk than they otherwise would be, not to metion the consequences if he were captured, outweigh any benefit from his being deployed.
I do admire his resolve, though, in insisting he stay with his men. Perhaps someday he will get the cahnce to serve his country in the manner he wishes.

[MDMA 0]

i wonder what his father, James Hewitt, thinks?

[speedy 0]

Not only should they send Harry to Irag, but also the rest of the Royal family there as well.

Dave

Fallschirmsport Marl

[Andrewwhyte 1]

What they should do is tell the press that reporting troop movements is not lawfull and shall cease.

[dorbie 0]

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What they should do is tell the press that reporting troop movements is not lawfull and shall cease.

Quite right but I think all sides are making a lot out of this. If nobody knew what unit he was in or what he did that'd be fine but sending him in there with a big announcement is fucking stupid. There's evidence that the enemy is already targeting scimitars and it's gotten one crew killed so far (that's if you accept there's a connection).

They may turn around in a year and say he's been deployed all along and he's returning after serving with his unit, at least then I'd get the (possibly misleading) impression that our military is not being run by a bunch of dozey fuckwits who couldn't throw a surprise party for a deaf, dumb and blind retard.

[labrys 0]

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a bunch of dozey fuckwits who couldn't throw a surprise party for a deaf, dumb and blind retard.

Why would your military throw a suprise party for George W. Bush?

Owned by Remi #?

[vortexring 0]

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i wonder what his father, James Hewitt, thinks?

Never!


()

'for it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "chuck 'im out, the brute!" But it's "saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot.'

[vortexring 0]

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What they should do is tell the press that reporting troop movements is not lawfull and shall cease.

Quite right but I think all sides are making a lot out of this. If nobody knew what unit he was in or what he did that'd be fine but sending him in there with a big announcement is fucking stupid. There's evidence that the enemy is already targeting scimitars and it's gotten one crew killed so far (that's if you accept there's a connection).

They may turn around in a year and say he's been deployed all along and he's returning after serving with his unit, at least then I'd get the (possibly misleading) impression that our military is not being run by a bunch of dozey fuckwits who couldn't throw a surprise party for a deaf, dumb and blind retard.

I'm cynically suspecting the decision not to send him into Iraq hasn't really much to do with his or his men's safety. I'd imagine even a complete mong would have been able to envisage threats being made towards him - whilst he was undergoing his training at Sandhurst. OF COURSE the enemy would directly target him! (Doh!)

So this sudden change stinks.

There are some arses being covered here. And they don't belong to Harry or any of the HCR lads.


edit: He'll more than likely be making his shiny with the odd visit to the Colonel... As in Gaddafi; Naafi. (PX)

'for it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "chuck 'im out, the brute!" But it's "saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot.'

[shropshire 0]

I agree with you 100% (on this at least)

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[ErricoMalatesta 0]

It would have made for some pretty entertaining news/historical event if he was shipped out and got captured and killed by them.

[willard 0]

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It would have made for some pretty entertaining news/historical event if he was shipped out and got captured and killed by them.

Why would any sane or reasonable person think a person being captured or killed in war is entertaining??

[willard 0]

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I agree with you 100% (on this at least)

It was bound to happen sooner or later. And it hurt a lot less than I thought it would.

[vortexring 0]

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It would have made for some pretty entertaining news/historical event if he was shipped out and got captured and killed by them.

Why would any sane or reasonable person think a person being captured or killed in war is entertaining??

I'm suspecting some black humour behind this statement.

'for it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "chuck 'im out, the brute!" But it's "saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot.'

[dorbie 0]

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It would have made for some pretty entertaining news/historical event if he was shipped out and got captured and killed by them.

Why would any sane or reasonable person think a person being captured or killed in war is entertaining??

I'm suspecting some black humour behind this statement.

Very unamerican of you not to ignore black humor when it suits you. Cut it out and climb on your high horse or they'll have to deport you.

[DZJ 0]

So battledrills that include going in to action Crying 'God for Harry, England and St George!' will have to be dropped, will they?

[vortexring 0]

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It would have made for some pretty entertaining news/historical event if he was shipped out and got captured and killed by them.

Why would any sane or reasonable person think a person being captured or killed in war is entertaining??

I'm suspecting some black humour behind this statement.

Very unamerican of you not to ignore black humor when it suits you. Cut it out and climb on your high horse or they'll have to deport you.

I doubt I'm understanding you here - I'm about unamerican as they come; I'm Scottish. As for deportation - I'm back in the UK fairly soon.

Either way - wibble.

'for it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "chuck 'im out, the brute!" But it's "saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot.'

[dorbie 0]

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It would have made for some pretty entertaining news/historical event if he was shipped out and got captured and killed by them.

Why would any sane or reasonable person think a person being captured or killed in war is entertaining??

I'm suspecting some black humour behind this statement.

Very unamerican of you not to ignore black humor when it suits you. Cut it out and climb on your high horse or they'll have to deport you.

I doubt I'm understanding you here - I'm about unamerican as they come; I'm Scottish. As for deportation - I'm back in the UK fairly soon.

Either way - wibble.

I know that, hence the comment.

[ACMESkydiver 0]

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It's a tough call, but in the end I think they made the right decision. The attention he would draw from the insurgents would put his fellow troops at much higher risk than they otherwise would be, not to metion the consequences if he were captured, outweigh any benefit from his being deployed.
I do admire his resolve, though, in insisting he stay with his men. Perhaps someday he will get the cahnce to serve his country in the manner he wishes.

I agree.

~Jaye
Do not believe that possibly you can escape the reward of your action.

[Erroll 80]

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It's a tough call, but in the end I think they made the right decision. The attention he would draw from the insurgents would put his fellow troops at much higher risk than they otherwise would be, not to metion the consequences if he were captured, outweigh any benefit from his being deployed.
I do admire his resolve, though, in insisting he stay with his men. Perhaps someday he will get the cahnce to serve his country in the manner he wishes.

I agree.

I doubt very much that the next-of-kin of Tom Keys, Gordon Gentle and that of the other nearly 150 fallen British soldiers will agree.

[vortexring 0]

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It would have made for some pretty entertaining news/historical event if he was shipped out and got captured and killed by them.

Why would any sane or reasonable person think a person being captured or killed in war is entertaining??

I'm suspecting some black humour behind this statement.

Very unamerican of you not to ignore black humor when it suits you. Cut it out and climb on your high horse or they'll have to deport you.

I doubt I'm understanding you here - I'm about unamerican as they come; I'm Scottish. As for deportation - I'm back in the UK fairly soon.

Either way - wibble.

I know that, hence the comment.

Ah, of course.

'for it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "chuck 'im out, the brute!" But it's "saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot.'

[ErricoMalatesta 0]

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It would have made for some pretty entertaining news/historical event if he was shipped out and got captured and killed by them.

Why would any sane or reasonable person think a person being captured or killed in war is entertaining??

Because he’s a prince
Because it would cause indignant world wide uproar and morning
Because it would be a nice bit of payback for Iraqis
Because all news is based on death and destruction being entertainment

[ACMESkydiver 0]

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It's a tough call, but in the end I think they made the right decision. The attention he would draw from the insurgents would put his fellow troops at much higher risk than they otherwise would be, not to metion the consequences if he were captured, outweigh any benefit from his being deployed.
I do admire his resolve, though, in insisting he stay with his men. Perhaps someday he will get the cahnce to serve his country in the manner he wishes.

I agree.

I doubt very much that the next-of-kin of Tom Keys, Gordon Gentle and that of the other nearly 150 fallen British soldiers will agree.

-Better to put him with his unit, and let those soldiers deal with the extra targeted attention. Maybe you should ask their next-of-kin if they deserved to be subject to specific targeting just because they had a prince with them.

I don't know either of the princes. All I know is what I see in interview or print, so I can only hope that I can gain a small understanding of their personality that way. You'd know better than I, but does Harry seem to be the type that would run from confrontation? Or does he seem to be the type that would do whatever was needed to protect his men? -We can't ask the people that would know best: his soldiers. I have a sense that he's a soldier's soldier...and sacrificing glory for the sake of your men, facing this type of criticism, is brave, in the very humble opinion of a US army vet.

Our 'guys' have had to stand down from one conflict I remember in particular -I won't go into detail with which one, it is irrelevant- they were ready, ready to jump -geared up, suited up, circling the LZ when they were called back. Men like that are amped up for the situation, they are PREPARED for that challenge because it is what they've trained to do, what they were meant to do...I can tell you that when they had to stand down and come back, it was like trying to bottle a Tazmanian Devil; like watching wild horses penned up. They weren't afraid of what they were on their way to do. Coming home, they were too keyed up to calm down for days...but they came home. They didn't fight that fight not because they were cowards, but because the mission had changed for them.

~Jaye
Do not believe that possibly you can escape the reward of your action.

[ACMESkydiver 0]

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What they should do is tell the press that reporting troop movements is not lawfull and shall cease.

I totally agree with you there. For the love of PETE why can our countries NOT GET THIS RIGHT?!?

~Jaye
Do not believe that possibly you can escape the reward of your action.

[SpeedRacer 1]

Couldn't Harry just climb onto his broomstick & fly away?

oh, wait, that's Harry Potter. sorry.

Speed Racer
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