Prince Harry Will Not Serve in Iraq

[Wiregrass Willie]

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/05/16/ap3729355.html

"....Army Chief of Staff Gen. Sir Richard Dannatt, who recently traveled to Iraq, said the situation there had become too dangerous and media scrutiny of the plans had exacerbated the situation...

....Dannatt said the move was due to specific threats to the prince and risks to the safety of his fellow soldiers...."

Ah, yes. The safety of those "fellow soldiers", is what did it.

Over the centuries the Royal warriors of England have left behind such names as William the Conqueror, Alfred the Great and Richard the Lion Heart. Now, joining that august list will be Harry the Chicken-shit.

[MethuenProgressive]

1. He'll go, get photoed and filmed, and we'll only hear about it afterwards,

The Brits know how to do these things.

[poverlay]

2. They really do. It's amazing when you visit there and see things like

the British Museum and Windsor Castle. You realize that they've been there done that in regards to trying to shape the world to their will with overwhelming military power. It's quite humbling and awe inspiring to come upon the understanding that they owned most of the world at one time.

We, on the other hand, can't even figure out how to get one little country to toe the line(any line).

It really gives one some amazing and necessary perspective...

[pretzel4gore]

14. if anything, America's 'failures' are testiments to its greatness

it's said that during height of british empire in India, only a fraction of 1 percent of the Indian people ever saw a brit....britain 'ruled' India through a slapdash arrangement that was basically based upon the idea of theft, and that no one ever thought of theiving on that scale- it was extraordinary in the same way ted bundy's skillful murders of 50 or so hapless young ladies were (and i don't admire ted, maybe i marvel at his skill, but admire? no way)....colonialism damaged every nation which ever experienced it, and continues to reek havok on nations to this day. The brits named themselves after angels (ie 'anglos' claiming a roman emperor did the deed, but Rome collapsed about 400 AD...) and there's something about tooting your own horn (then pretending it 'just happpened') that debases the culprit...Prince Harry should damn the 'war' and damn the crimes which occured along the way. If he did so, he would bring honour to England a thousand winston churchills/maggot thatchers couldnt even imagine....Maybe that's too much to ask of any kid, but if he resents being denied the chance to 'serve' in a criminal 'war' then ....well no one invited him to iraq, and until free Iraqis do, those who go there are invaders, crooks....in William Shirer's 'rise/fall of the 3rd reich' Shirer notes that the Italians were 'too sophisticated' to commit the atrocities necessary to 'win' battles unlike the germans or japanese etc...Americans have done alot of awful things, but the Iraq war (like Vietnam) is an atrocity, and thank god bush isn't winning ...britain has alot to be proud of, but its record as a coloniser aint one of them

[muriel_volestrangler]

22. Just to correct the etymology

Angles were not 'named after angels'.

In one theory the name of the Angles came from Germanic words for "narrow" (compare German eng = "narrow"), and meant "the people who live beside the Narrow ", i.e. beside the Schlei estuary. The root would be *angh-, "tight".

The most common theory is that the name Angeln itself means "hook", as in angling for fish. Many reputable etymological dictionaries are silent on its root. Julius Pokorny, however (a major Indo-European linguist), derives it from *ang-, "bend". The meaning would be "Anwohner der Holsteiner Bucht" (residents at the Bay of Holstein). The problem with this derivation is that Grimm's Law does not appear to apply to it. The theory that "Angeln" refers to a landforms resembling a hook would have required advanced mapmaking abilities by its people, and is thus misleading.

Angeln is situated on the large bight linking the Baltic coast to Jutland, which is mainly the Bay of Kiel (Kieler Bucht), but might be seen as Holsteiner Bucht.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angeln

There was an apocryphal pun about "not Angles, but angels" (which works in Latin as well) said to have been made by a pope, when he decided to convert the Anglo-Saxons.

[pretzel4gore]

28. how many Englishmen can dance on the head (of a pin)?

haha..just joking :) and thanks for the correction...etymology not my strongest subject....

[poverlay]

23. I'm not sure I understand how America's failures are testaments to it's greatness.

Could you be more specific as to what failures exactly testify to America's greatness?

[pretzel4gore]

29. just suggesting Americans know what's right....

the idea is that the US leadership has always been forced to lie and misrepresent facts about the situation in order to get its military to really fight; unfortunately, sometimes they were successful (the Spanish American war was one glaring example)...Americans would prefer to lose an unjust war because even a fool realizes that, in a crunch, the US simply can't be militarily defeated, not by entire planet united against it! It's like a gentle giant who allows the twerp to heap insults on him because, well, it's benath the giant to use force on a twerp....remember, the US is a nuke power who put men on the moon 2 generations ago- so getting whipped by Iraq, or Nam; that's admirable of the American people (though Frank Burns whines to high heaven)

[Captain Hilts]

10. Yes. Now that they've said he isn't going, he might go. nt

[SteelPenguin]

3. Where's the Queen on this?

It's interesting that they wanted to keep Prince Andrew from being in harms way during the Falkland Islands conflict and the Queen basically insisted that he go, so he went....doing such things that weren't exactly safe such as act as an Exocet missile decoy among other things. At the time he was second in line for the throne.

Now it's the third in line, and the Queen is awfully silent about letting Harry participate. I wonder if it says anything about the Queen's personal feelings about the war, or really just they're scared shitless of Iraq...far moreso than a hot naval conflict in the south atlantic.

[Captain Hilts]

11. Harry's not her kid. And Andrew didn't face kidnapping threats. nt

[alarimer]

4. It's not fair to call him a chicken-shit

I think HE wants to go; it is other people who have made the decision. So the name-calling is uncalled-for.

[Left Is Write]

5. It's pretty clear he wants to go -

but if they have received specific threats against him, I have to think that WOULD compromise the safety of everyone else serving with him.

[alarimer]

9. I would think so

And he probably recognizes that as well.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

30. One needs to note that the safety of everyone else

IS ALREADY COMPROMISED!

[Stuckinthebush]

6. Indeed

I was quite impressed by the young man's insistence that he serve and not be protected.

Not a chicken-shit at all.

[ticapnews]

7. I don't understand why this makes him a chicken

Just because our commander-in-chief and his pals were too busy, or had other priorities or just plain went AWOL during a war, doesn't mean that's what Prince Harry is doing. The British have a lengthy tradition of the royalty serving in the military, and actually seeing action. He doesn't come across as a shrinking violet who is trying to hide from service to his country.

Now, if it were Tony Blair, John Major or Margaret Thatcher's kid...

[Captain Hilts]

13. He's not a chicken. Who's saying he is? nt

[Wiregrass Willie]

15. You are right

He is probably not chicken shit. His genes just weakened on their descent from Victoria. I should not be harshly judgmental of the young fellow just because he has an unseemly preoccupation with protecting his Royal ass.

I suppose my dislike of the tyke comes from an article and a picture I saw on the internet a couple of years ago. It seems one of those guys (Will or Harry) went to Africa so he could actually stab a small deer to death with a spear while two natives held the ferocious beast.

That made me conclude that the Royal juniors are as near nothing examples of WASP boys I have seen in many years. Dammit ! There I go being judgmental again !

[CatWoman]

21. yes

any reason for it?

in particular, that is?

Dammit ! There I go being judgmental again !

[Wiregrass Willie]

25. Why not ?

Surely you don't let all of that gray matter between your ears go to waste, do you ? Making judgments is what it's for.

Nice cats. Here's Little Willie.

http://www.geocities.com/wiregrass_willie/willie.html

[alarimer]

24. The last I checked he actually wanted to go

Probably out of his mind but NOT CHICKEN since someone else apparently decided for him.

You are completely out of line here.

[ticapnews]

20. "Now, joining that august list will be Harry the Chicken-shit."

That's from the first post in the thread...

[Breeze54]

8. I'm actually glad he's not going even though he wants to go.

He will be a target and will reap more danger on the soldiers who will be assigned to protect him.

[Bobbieo]

12. If he goes, he will be a threat to everyone near him. His

presence will create more problems. Stay home, kid!!!

[AlCzervik]

16. i think he puts everyone around him in greater peril if he went to Iraq.

[MiniMe]

27. I agree, its not just Harry, its the men with him who are in danger

My impression is that Harry wanted to serve, and is not happy about this. I also think that the royal family was ready to have him serve. I think it was a general that made the decision, based on the increased danger it would put his men into. A general who is concerned about the welfare of the common man, what a novel concept.

[MadHound]

17. Damn, what a shame, the Brits found a different option

I thought that surely since Harry was insisting on going, this would force the Brits to pull out to protect his out. Now instead they're just overruling him. What a shame.

[MazeRat7]

18. This is good. His being there would be terrible risk to his unit. -nt

[mwb970]

19. I can't believe they even considered sending him....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=795474

[Selatius]

26. Has anybody heard of going INCOGNITO!? There are some dumb fucks running around.

If you want to protect this kid and let him decide if he wants to go fight and possibly die for his country, then give him a fucking alias and make him wear the exact same goddamn military uniform as every other soldier not blessed to have been born into an aristocratic family. It's not rocket science, people.