A Victory for Common Sense

So, Prince Harry won't be going to Iraq after all. What amazes me most is that it has taken so long to get to this point. It seems to me that the real issue was never whether he was or should receive special treatment, but whether his presence placed the lives of the other men in his unit in greater danger and it should have been obvious from the start that it did. In the type of conflict that is currently happening in Iraq, the presence of a high profile figure like Prince Harry was always going to make him a greater target, and by extension place his unit at greater risk. Yes, soldiers are paid to be in dangerous situations, but this would be placing them under unnecessary extra danger for no good reason, and secretly, I would guess, that many of those soldiers will be quite relieved the Prince won't be joining them.

My only regret is that this whole thing has been played out in such a public way for so long in the media. You can't help feeling that this has given the insurgents a moral victory already.