Iraq militia: we have special unit to target Prince Harry

I'm sorry. But is there anyone who didn't see this coming?

Prince Harry will be a prime kidnap target for insurgents in Iraq, a commander in the Mahdi army, the Shia militia loyal to the radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, has told the Guardian.

"One of our aims is to capture Harry, we have people inside the British bases to inform us on when he will arrive," claimed Abu Mujtaba, who commands a unit of around 50 men active in the Mahdi army in Basra.

In comments denounced by British defence sources as "blatant propaganda", Abu Mujtaba told the Guardian: "We have a special unit that would work to track him down, with informants inside the bases.

"Not only us, the Mahdi army, that will try to capture him, but every person who hates the British and the Americans will try to get him, all the mujahideens in Iraq, the al-Qaida, the Iranians all will try to get him."

Abu Mujtaba continued: "For me he is just a British soldier and he should be killed if comes to Iraq, but let's be realistic, we can kill hundreds of British soldiers before forcing them to withdraw - like what's happening with Americans now - but Harry is a bigger catch and we will force the British to come on their knees and talk to us."

This reveals the idiocy of employing royals within the military. You would be as well simply painting a bullseye on the bugger's back.

Not only that, but every other soldier who serves within his regiment will be in more danger than they would otherwise be because Harry is amongst them.

The behaviour of the royals has had to change as they attempt to find some justification for their exalted position in a modern world and they have somehow alighted upon: "we're just like the rest of you, except you have to bow before us whenever we meet."

It is this attempt to be one of the people - and simultaneously above the people - that has led to the bizarre notion that Harry should serve his country by going to Iraq. I can see the PR value of what they are proposing, but the risk to other people serving beside him renders the whole exercise futile.

Figureheads, and lets face it royals really have no function other than that, should remain figureheads. The minute they head into the trenches to prove they are just like the rest of us they are actually more of a hindrance than a help.

And, as an aside, I notice that the Iraqis have little faith in this army that we have trained and armed:

A senior Iraqi defence ministry official said that militias could overrun Basra relatively easily because they had successfully infiltrated local security forces. "When the Brits formed these forces they depended on these militias for lists of recruits," he said.

Oh, that's just dinky. We've armed the militias and given them Iraqi uniforms. "Tally-ho! Harry, lead the way, I promise you it's going to be pucker!"

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Tags: Prince Harry, Iraq, Iraq war, Basra