Sunday, April 01, 2007

But if anyone is going to be shot at...

From Stuff

His pending tour of duty in Iraq has split world opinion, now Kiwi monarchists are urging British authorities not to send Prince Harry to war.

The Monarchist League of New Zealand said it was wrong to send the third in line to the throne to an "unpopular and futile" war in Iraq, and has urged the Blair Government to reconsider his deployment.
It will come as no surprise that I believe that every British soldier should be withdrawn from Iraq immediately.

But if there are going to be British soldiers in Iraq, then they don't come more dispensable than Prince Harry. I'm not commenting on his worth as a person to those who love him, which I'm sure is very high.* But I would be hard pressed to think of anyone more useless. Unlike his older brother, he won't even get to wait, to wait, to become a figurehead.

Almost all of the US and British soldiers who have died in Iraq would have had far less choice in their profession than Prince Harry. The Iraqi people who have died during the invasion and occupation, have even less choice still. Every day in Iraq there are tragedies that are far greater than the hypothetical death of Prince Harry.

* Although I have to say wearing a Swastika at a Colonials and Natives Party? Not OK.

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