Why Harry mustnt go to Iraq.
The week's news at a glance.
United Kingdom
Minette Marrin
Sunday Times
The army can’t seriously be considering deploying Prince Harry to Iraq, said Minette Marrin in the London Sunday Times. The radical Shiite militia known as the Mahdi Army has already threatened to capture the “handsome spoilt prince,” as it calls Harry, and “return him to his grandmother without ears.” Such treatment would be generous. Harry is “much more likely to lose his head, horribly and publicly, on footage seen repeatedly all over the world.” To Islamic extremists, the red-haired, blue-eyed, hard-drinking lad is a symbol of the decadent West. And “symbols have great power, particularly in unsophisticated cultures.” It’s obvious the poor boy wants to play soldier. Harry will surely argue that his uncle Prince Andrew got to serve as a helicopter pilot in the Falklands war. But back then, “the circumstances were entirely different—and in any case, he shouldn’t have gone.” If Harry were to serve in an active regiment, he would put himself, his men, and his country’s honor in danger. “He should never have been allowed for an instant to think he would be allowed to go.”
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Bad Bunny: Why MAGA is incensed
Feature The NFL announced Latino artist Bad Bunny as the Super Bowl halftime headliner, sparking MAGA outrage
-
Supreme Court: Judging 20 years of Roberts
Feature Two decades after promising to “call balls and strikes,” Chief Justice John Roberts faces scrutiny for reshaping American democracy
-
Venezuela: Does Trump want war?
Feature Donald Trump has accused Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro of leading a drug cartel and waging a narco-terrorism campaign against the United States