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PRINCE HARRY BEGGED: 'LET ME STAY'

Harry: Wanted to complete tour of duty

Saturday March 1,2008

By Richard Palmer

Comment Speech Bubble Have your say(28)

PRINCE Harry pleaded to stay in Afghanistan and was “bitterly disappointed” after the Army flew him home last night over fears he is now a Taliban target.

Military chiefs ordered his immediate removal from the lawless Helmand province because worldwide media coverage of his combat role could put his life and the lives of his men at risk.

The third-in-line to the throne was on his way home, via a refuelling stop in the Gulf, after his secret 10-week deployment fighting the Taliban in southern Afghanistan was disclosed.

A US website, the Drudge Report, broke a news blackout over Harry’s deployment which had been agreed between the Ministry of Defence and British and international media.

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WATCH OUR VIDEO OF HARRY ON THE FRONTLINE

He is bitterly disappointed that he wasn’t able to complete his tour of duty

An Army source

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An Army source said yesterday: “He is bitterly disappointed that he wasn’t able to complete his tour of duty.

“He wanted to stay but he just has to accept the decision his military commanders have made.”

Harry, 23, who is expected to be reunited with his family and girlfriend Chelsy Davy this weekend, now faces an uncertain future in the Army.

The Household Cavalry officer has said he would like to spend his career in the forces. But defence experts and senior Whitehall figures yesterday doubted he could fulfill that ambition.

Sources said it was difficult to see how the Prince, hailed as a natural soldier by his comrades, can spend up to 40 years in the services if constant security fears make it impossible for him to spend time on active service abroad.

One said: “I think the knee-jerk reaction is that this is it. This was his one chance to serve in a war zone and it’s all ruined now for him and for Prince William in the future.”

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SEE OUR PRINCE HARRY PICTURE GALLERY
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His future in the forces will now be discussed in detail over the next few days by senior MoD officials and the Royal Household.They are aware that even if Harry were sent on peacekeeping duties to, for example, Kosovo or Africa, he would always be a target.

The young Prince has made it clear he would prefer to be on the front line than back in Britain. He had hoped he could return to Afghanistan this summer but that now seems unlikely.

Harry, a second lieutenant – or Cornet – in the Household Cavalry’s Blues and Royals, is the first Royal to see combat since his uncle, the Duke of York, was involved in the 1982 Falklands conflict.

He is now in line to receive a medal for his role in Afghanistan. Harry is set to be awarded the Operational Service Medal and an MoD spokesman said it was expected he would receive it with the rest of his regiment.

Yesterday the Queen, who supported the decision for him to go to Afghanistan, paid tribute to her grandson. On a tour of a care home in Windsor she spoke to Second World War veteran John Cooke, 81.

When Mr Cooke, a former Grenadier Guard and paratrooper, sent his congratulations to Harry, the Queen said: “Yes, Harry is doing a good job in a very difficult climate.”

Brigadier Andrew Mackay, Commander of British forces in Afghanistan, said last night: “The decision to withdraw Harry from operations was one that was not made lightly and was given very careful consideration.

“At the time of the decision Harry was deployed in the field, conducting operations against the Taliban, and we therefore had to consider not just the consequences for him personally but those that he was serving alongside.”

He said Harry had flourished in the demanding environment, doing a tough job that required “an individual of cool nerve, mental agility and an ability to make critical decisions in the heat of battle”.

A PRINCELY PREDICAMENT....

02.03.08, 7:03pm

Enough is enough. I have counted 6 stories running on this site at the moment. There could be more. Time to ease up on the hero worshipping and the dramatizing of a decent young man just trying to carry out his obligations and perform in his chosen career. He did his duty, he was in the British Army alongside hundreds of soldiers like him. He is a Prince therefore will never be termed as a "regular" young person but he tried hard to blend and thanks to the extensive and overly dramatic hyperbole he is now firmly stuck in a bog. Unlike his brother who has a secure job running the family business eventually, Harry has to start over with career plans. If they give him a medal they are crazy and I believe he would be embarrassed. If he can carve out a future working in Africa and helping civilization in one way or the other all to the good. However it will take time for him to come down to earth and i hope people will leave him alone to ponder on the next journey his future will bring. Hopefully will have a smoother road than the previous one

• Posted by: Elizabeth • Report Comment

ROTHAYMERE

02.03.08, 4:02pm

Have I taken leave of my senses, no but I am now thinking the same about you, sorry I cannot bow to your superior knowledge because I think its a load of rubbish

• Posted by: Maggie • Report Comment

ROTHAMAYRE

01.03.08, 10:38pm

Surely you are not suggesting that two grieving parents were able to stop the press reporting.
That happens for Royalty, but not for two ordinary GPS.
There is no politicial interference.Gordon Brown has bigger fish to fry .
No serious newspaper or documentary has pointed the finger at these parents, as quite simply,most people believe them to be innocent of involvement in her abduction.

• Posted by: melbel • Report Comment

I SIMPLY CAN'T RESIST HAVING MY SAY ON THIS SKEWED REPORTING ON HARRY'S 10 DAYS "AT WAR," WHICH IS A MOCKERY OF WHAT THE BRITISH SOLDIER IS EXPERIENCING THERE

01.03.08, 9:45pm

I see the Daily Express is set to issue another frontpage goof with a picture of Harry riding a motor bike that he "found" in the desert. Behind him, a touch of reality, a reinforced military vehicle draped in camouflage.

It is not the decision, Harry's or the Military's, to let him spend 10 days getting a close up look at the war in Afghanistan, it is how the Daily Express and the rest of their reporting brethren presented that "close up look." It was a lie. Anyone who has read reports coming out of that war zone knows it is a lie. A glorified vision of men at war. They couldn't have done worse had they done a piece on the U.S. Military's disaster in Somalia, with a few shots of big-maned lions and threatening elephant thrown in. That is not war. What they presented via Harry and with his cooperation is not war. And the Royal Family, Charles particularly, should get real about the war in Afghanistan. Harry's exploits may make for good listening at Sandringham, with the glitter of the medal to add some authenticity, but it is not what the British soldier is facing face to face with the formidable Taliban.

The Taliban are not like the understatement of the year about the men the American troops were facing in Vietnam: little men in black pajamas (and oh how they were routed!). The Taliban are seasoned fighters. They routed the supposedly unbeatable Russians, threw them out. Britain has been thrown out of Afghanistan before. On three occasions Britiain has attempted to impose its political will on Afghanistan. All three attempts proved disastrous. Many consider it to be an unwinnable war now. But still it goes on and Britain is paying a disproportiante price for it because the other EU nations won't get involved.

Now comes the tale of Harry fighting the good fight, socializing with the Gurkhas whom he admires, and riding a "found" motor bike. Smiling photos. Happy photos. Not another British soldier in sight. Personally, I object to the press's presentation of this disaster.

Disaster? Because now Harry has the eye and ear of Al Quaida. He has attracted their wrath. No longer will he be able to carouse in the ondon pubs. He is a target. If all this hype was worth that, then there is something wrong with some people's reasoning.

Instead of lambasting the Drudge website for revealing this disaster-in- the-making, perhaps the spotlight should be on those in the media who created it. My view only.

• Posted by: Rothaymere • Report Comment

WHY IS IT THAT????

01.03.08, 9:12pm

Why is it that Harry is disappointed at being taken home ...... most young squaddies and their families would be esctatic ......

Truth is Harry was never in any danger ... it was staged ...... spinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

• Posted by: gargoyle • Report Comment

BIANCA, THANKS FOR THE RESPONSES - I THINK OF THE INTERESTING POSTERS I MET UP WITH ON THE FORUM ABOUT MADELEINE

01.03.08, 8:03pm

First, I get shivers down my spine when I recognize what has happened to Madeleine and what will not happen. Eleven months is a long time for a child of 4 to be missing. There are thousands upon thousands in the U.S. and after a month or so, the chances of finding them are at ground zero. I wish it were otherwise for Madeleine. But I am a realist.

As for the threats to sue by the the McCanns, I still think that too many were intimidated by that. I don't want to believe that the Daily Express caved in under such pressure. The moderators were careful to remove libellous comments. They were very quick to do that. I respected that. As for libel, stating a fact is not liable and the McCanns know that. They were in a bar socalizing and drinking - that IS what one does in a bar - while leaving their children of 2, 2, and 3-1/2 alone in bedroom, in a foreign resort. That is a fact and the reason why Madeleine disappeared. How? who knows?

But I wasn't impressed with the McCanns' posturing and I don't think the Daily Express was. I don't want to believe that. When some individuals put pressure on the press to shut up, then Britain needs to start paying attention to freedom of speech. To freedom. And that is NOT being protec ted in the wasteland of Afghanistan no matter what some here believe.

Cheers, have a good night Bianca.

• Posted by: Rothaymere • Report Comment