This photo shows Prince Harry (R) playing videogame in the UK troops’ camp in Afghanistan.
Britain’s Prince Harry, who served in Afghanistan as part of the NATO-led occupation of the country, has recently returned as an army officer but not much of a gentleman.
Upon return from a 4-month tour of duty as a co-pilot in Apache attack helicopters, Harry, the third in line to the British throne, compared shooting Afghans to playing video games, something that prompted the Taliban in Afghanistan to say that “the prince has probably developed a mental problem”.
However, what could have been a PR coup for the Royal Family – and the Armed Forces – turned into a graceless whinge from a young man who wears the uniform of an officer, but not quite enough of the dignity.
In a series of interviews to mark the end of his service in Afghanistan, Prince Harry admitted that he had killed members of the Taliban during his 20-week posting, saying: “’Take a life to save a life. That’s what we revolve around, I suppose”.
But Lindsey German, convenor of the Stop the War Coalition, called the 28-year-old’s comments “crass”, and asked how he knew those he’d killed were actually members of the Taliban.
“In recent months many civilians have been killed by air strikes. This arrogant and insensitive attitude to killing Afghans, whoever they are, is hardly likely to win hearts and minds – a supposed aim of the war,” German said.
“Prince Harry returns to a life of idleness and luxury, unlike most soldiers who face unemployment, austerity and social problems”, she added.
Harry’s comments drew a long list of complaints: the way other soldiers stared at him in the mess; the fact no woman would want to be his wife; and most of all, of course, how the media intruded on his privacy.
He’s three Harrys, he says: the royal, the soldier and the private person. Well, here we got a glimpse of a fourth Harry – the petulant prince.
Harry desperately lacks maturity and judgment, according to many of the complaints.
Take, for example, the way he revealed he had killed Taliban by ‘taking them out of the game’, as though warfare was just another video game. How desperately insensitive and reckless. Prince Harry’s behaviour since has shown him to be a fine officer, but not much of a gentleman.
MOL/HE
