Prince Harry on front line in Afghanistan

[David]

AP


LONDON - Prince Harry has been serving on the front line in Afghanistan with the British Army, the Ministry of Defense said Thursday.

Officials said the prince, a lieutenant in the Blues and Royals regiment, was still deployed in the country.

"His conduct on operations in Afghanistan has been exemplary," said the head of the army, Gen. Richard Dannatt. "He has been fully involved in operations and has run the same risks as everyone else in his battle group."

Harry, who is third in line to the throne, has been in Afghanistan since December. The deployment was not reported earlier due to an agreement between the Ministry of Defense and news organizations, including The Associated Press.

The story was leaked by an Australian magazine and a German newspaper.

Dannatt said he was "very disappointed" that the story had leaked.

"Now that the story is in the public domain, the Chief of Defence Staff and I will take advice from the operational commanders about whether his deployment can continue," he added. "I now appeal to the media to restrain from attempting to report Prince Harry's every move and return to our understanding."

Harry, 23, has been fighting in the restive Helmand province, where most of the 7,800 British troops in Afghanistan are based.

Last year military chiefs ruled Harry could not be sent to Iraq with his regiment because publicity surrounding his deployment could put him and his unit at risk.





In this image made available in London, Thursday Feb. 28, 2008, Britain's Prince Harry mans a 50mm machinegun, at an observation post close to Forward Operating Base Delhi, in Afghanistan, on Wednesday Jan. 2, 2008. Prince Harry has been serving on the front line in Afghanistan with the British Army, according to an announcement by Britain's Ministry of Defence. The Prince, who is third in line to the throne, and is still deployed in the country, has been in Afghanistan since December. The deployment was not reported due to an agreement between the Ministry of Defense and news organizations, including The Associated Press. The story was leaked by an Australian magazine and a German newspaper.

[DeadlyDaring]

Prince Harry’s service on the frontline in Afghanistan was a well-kept secret - until a world embargo was broken by an Australian magazine and a German media outlet.

Australian weekly women’s magazine New Idea broke the story in January - but it was not followed up at the time.

In an article on its website dated January 7, the magazine reported that Harry had seen frontline action in Afghanistan despite opposition from the British government and members of the Royal family.

But it was a short piece posted on the US-based Drudge Report website today that forced the British Ministry of Defence to drop the cloak of secrecy.

The hugely-influential website, which has made its name breaking controversial stories, ran a story headlined, Prince Harry: Is He In A Warzone?

The story asked whether the prince had been “swallowed by the ground” in recent months.

It went on to quote an unnamed “palace insider” suggesting it was “quite conceivable” he was serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.

The Ministry of Defence had kept the young royal’s deployment secret under a news blackout agreed by British media to prevent details reaching insurgents and endangering the prince and his comrades.

But the arrangement broke down after news was leaked out on the Drudge Report, which said that New Idea and the German tabloid Bild were the first to break a world embargo.

But Michel Rauch, managing editor of Bild’s foreign department, insisted: “We did not publish anything”.

Instead it appears that another German paper, the Berliner Kurier, published a short piece yesterday.

The Drudge Report site later dropped mention of Bild and New Idea, claiming the exclusive as their own.

Neither New Idea, the Drudge Report or the Berliner Kurier were immediately available for comment.

Despite several inaccuracies, the brief Drudge report article caused an international stir.

“British Royal Prince Harry has been fighting in Afghanistan since late December - and has been directly involved in gun battle, the Drudge Report has learned,” the story said.

“The prince, a junior officer in the Blues and Royals, and third in line to the throne, has been a ’magnificent soldier’ and an ’inspiration to all of Briton’ (sic).

“Prince Harry is taking part in a new offensive against the Taliban.

“Ministry of Defence and Clarence House refuse all comment. Army chiefs have managed to keep the prince away from media and have encourage (sic) fellow soldiers in his squadron to stay quiet.”

In fact, the British Army arranged for the media to spend time with Prince Harry in Afghanistan.

As part of the deal a group of journalists visited the prince in Helmand on condition that details would only be publicised once he was safely back in Britain.

The deal was arranged after Harry’s planned tour to Iraq last year had to be shelved because of the security risk sparked by media publicity.

Angry internet users today changed an entry on online encyclopaedia Wikipedia to describe the Drudge Report as an “irresponsible and ill-advised ‘news’ website that has seen fit to put the lives of many soldiers at risk by publishing reports of Prince Harry’s deployment in Afghanistan”.

The Drudge Report, run by Matt Drudge, made the news in January 1998 when it broke the story about then-US president Bill Clinton’s dalliance with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

The website was back in the headlines this week for its claim that members of Hillary Clinton’s team had circulated a photograph of rival US presidential hopeful Barack Obama wearing ceremonial African dress.

LONDON

[revwardoc]

Harry's nickname is "The Bullet Magnet". I read this morning that they're probably going to have to pull him out since the Taliban has put a price on his head. I remember reading somewhere else on Patriot Files about one of the rules of combat; something like, "Never draw attention to yourself: it draws fire and pisses off your buddies".