Prince Harry's book Spare is due to be released on Tuesday, January 10, 2023, but details about what his memoir contains have been leaking out. Amidst the revelations of squabbles with his family and the sanctification of his wife, D-list actress Meghan Markle, one truly shocking revelation stands out: Harry claims to have killed 25 Taliban fighters during his service in Afghanistan. He also claims to have regarded the dead fighters as chess pieces to be taken off the board.
The backlash has been intense. Retired British Army Colonel Richard Kemp gave an interview in which he described Harry's remarks as not only creating a security threat to himself but also raising the level of threat towards any British servicemen. Colonel Kemp stated that the British Army teaches respect to the enemy, including following the Geneva Convention, and characterized Harry's boast as tarnishing the reputation of the service:
#1: TommyTheMadArtist To: Ada (#0)
He’s the bastard son of the king’s ex wife. If anyone thinks that it’s an accident that he ended up here, they might want to look at the history of how royal families tend to operate. He’s the brother of William, and by virtue of that, he is still considered royalty, even if they have different dads.
They sent him here. He’s likely a defacto ruler installed here in America and Candada. Notice his wife is from Canada too. Since he still gets a monthly allowance from the royal coffers, I can tell you that he’s here because he was sent here.
The royal family of criminals needs to die out just like the cabal of evil who run the world. Their time has passed long ago.
TommyTheMadArtist posted on 2023-01-09 11:23:37 Reply Private Reply
#2: strepsiptera To: Ada (#0)
strepsiptera posted on 2023-01-09 14:12:28 Reply Private Reply
#3: Ada To: strepsiptera (#2)
Ada posted on 2023-01-09 15:59:51 Reply Private Reply
#4: Pinguinite To: Ada (#0)
I would consider the "chess pieces" remark to be fully accurate. What I can't come to grips with is how British or American servicemen can go into a foreign country and kill citizens of that country and call it legitimate work. I suppose in Afghanistan there's room for that given the brutality the Taliban is reputed to have carried out against even their own people, but that's not the case in Iraq or Libya.
Pinguinite posted on 2023-01-09 17:16:00 Reply Private Reply
#5: AdaC To: Pinguinite (#4)
AdaC posted on 2023-01-09 18:30:51 Reply Private Reply
#6: StraitGate To: Ada (#0)
Any government that trains, equips, sends, and pays its soldiers to kill should not be shocked -- or profess outrage -- when that soldier boasts how or how well he did his job.
The US government paid its Flying Tigers pilots in China a bonus for every Japanese plane they shot down. During WW1 and WW2, pilots marked their aircraft to indicate how many kills they scored (like notches on a Wild West gunfighter's revolver), and "flying aces" were roundly celebrated.
StraitGate posted on 2023-01-09 22:57:28 Reply Private Reply
#7: Ada To: StraitGate (#6)
Except for pilots I have not found this to be the case. Generally front line troops do not talk about killing. Even Lt. Calley didn't want to talk about it.
Ada posted on 2023-01-10 08:49:55 Reply Private Reply
#8: Pinguinite To: Ada (#7)
I suppose it depends on how good a job the military does of dehumanizing the enemy, which is in fact a requirement in wartime.
Pinguinite posted on 2023-01-12 20:46:07 Reply Private Reply
#9: Ada To: Pinguinite (#8)
Ada posted on 2023-01-13 08:37:36 Reply Private Reply