L'Ombre de l'Olivier

The Shadow of the Olive Tree

being the maunderings of an Englishman on the Côte d'Azur

27 December 2006 Blog Home : December 2006 : Permalink

Prince Harry and the Land Rover of Death

There are times when I think that the British Royal family, especially the younger ones, are upper class twits and parasites on the body politic of the UK. Those would the the times when they dress up in Nazi gear or spout off complete ecologico-economic balderdash that appears to have been lifted direct from the Grauniad via the Nouveaux Conservatives. If asked I prefer the Nazi-dressers to the eco-freaks but I tend to dislike both. But my moments of disdain are tempered by the fact that the exact same people can also show the sort of dedication to duty and service which are the justification for an hereditary aristocacy (and monarchy) but which many aristocrats treat with disdain.

What has sparked this post is that today I read that our Nazi dresser may well be redeem himself by serving in Iraq (via Gateway pundit):

Officially, the Ministry of Defence insists that a final decision about whether second lieutenant Harry will be allowed to fight in Iraq has yet to be made.

The Prince has always said he is determined to do battle with his 100-strong unit, A Squadron of the Blues and Royals — part of the Household Cavalry.

They begin a six-month tour of Iraq in the spring. And before that, they are expected to take part in war games and exhaustive preparations for conflict.

The decision over the young Royal is deemed so important it will be made by the Army’s top man, Chief of the General Staff General Sir Richard Dannatt.

But a bandwagon of popular support is growing among the ranks to allow Harry to fulfil his dream of active service. Despite alarm over the possibility of putting the Prince’s life in danger, top brass will find that hard to refuse.

I hope that he does in fact go to Iraq but, as the Sun notes, later on in the article, there is a little problemette:

But the most convincing argument AGAINST Harry seeing action in Iraq is the attention it will attract to his troop from suicide bombers. A target of the third in line to the British throne will be a magnet to fanatics for hundreds of miles around.

What the Sun fails to mention is that the suicide bombers would find it easier to attack 2nd Lt H Windsor than they would if he were in some other army. As Richard North at the EU Referendum blog, has written about repeatedly (those being merely the last three) the scandal is that the British armed forces are not only poorly equipped but also that the government and MoD paperpushers seem unwilling to admit that this is the case and adjust spending appropriately. Blair has used the armed forces a lot but he has done a piss poor job of ensuring that their equipment is up to snuff and appropriate fort he missions that he demands they perform. One particular scandal is the "Snatch" land rover used to patrol in Iraq which is utterly unprotected against the suicide bombers, IEDs or snipers which attack British patrols.

If the prospect of 2nd Lt H Windsor patrolling in inadequate equipment helps focus the minds of the paper-pushers then he'll probably save more British lives in Iraq than practically anyone. I hope he goes there and the MoD uses that as an excuse to purchase some sensible patrol vehicles and maybe even a few more helicopters...



I despise l'Escroc and Vile Pin