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Updated January 7th, 2023 at 16:21 IST

Servicemen slam Prince Harry for claiming he killed 25 in Afghanistan in tell-all memoir

Col Collins derided Prince Harry for his claim, saying, "That is not how you behave in the army, it's not how we think. He has badly let the side down."

Reported by: Zaini Majeed
Prince Harry
IMAGE: AP | Image:self
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Prince Harry shattered the values ​​of the Royal armed forces by claiming in public that he killed 25 people as an Apache helicopter pilot in Britain’s Army Air Corps during his Afghanistan deployment, former senior British military adviser, Major General Chip Chapman told Times Radio on Friday. 

Duke of Sussex has broken at least four values ​​of the military, Major General Chapman said, denouncing Prince Harry for revealing "sensitive" military information in his tell-all memoir 'Spare' which was put on sale early in Spain, ahead of its official release on Tuesday, January 10. 

 "We have a code of conduct," said Maj Gen Chapman. "It's the values and standards of the military. He's broken at least four of those values. That includes respect for others, integrity, loyalty, and selfless commitment. For him, who wants privacy and security, he's just opened himself up to every jihadist and nutcase out there." Major General Chapman. 

Major General Chapman served in the Paratroop Regiment during the Falklands War as a senior British military advisor to US Central Command in the Middle East, Northern Ireland, as well as a former head of counter-terrorism operations for the Ministry of Defence. He has called Prince Harry's revelations in the autobiography "crassly and naively stupid." 

"It is stupid, blatantly stupid, as well as disloyal," senior British military adviser said, commenting on Harry's "body count" of 25 during his second tour on Helmand frontline when he served as Apache helicopter co-pilot and gunner.

Harry, in his much-anticipated book, said that he killed 25 people during six combat missions, acknowledging that operations he was a part of involved "taking of human lives". 

He said he did not think of those he killed "as people" but as "chess pieces" that were taken off the board. Duke of Sussex's claim that he was "neither proud nor ashamed" of killings was criticised by active duty members and former military personnel, all of whom warned that it could jeopardise his own safety and the safety of soldiers on the field.

The contents of Harry's book needs a legal and ethical inspection to ensure that the sensitive details relating to British special forces and war casualties are not put out before the public, Major General Chapman said. He went on to denounce the alleged "body count mentality" in the British armed forces, as he called Harry's claim of 25 kills "slightly ridiculous". "There would have been no way Harry could ID or bury anyone," said the Major General.

"It's an awful lack of judgment and maturity.It's a naïve approach to how the military would act. And we talk about 'jus in bello' conduct in war. This is a terrible conduct in peace"—Major General Chapman said.

 

Credit: AP

'You can't kill people if you see them as people:' Harry

Prince Harry claimed in his book obtained by The Daily Telegraph that he knew the exact number of of kills because of the "era of Apaches and laptops". He wrote that he watched each "kill" before returning to the defense base. He described the insurgents as “baddies eliminated before they could kill goodies”. He was briefly assigned to duties as the forward air controller on the ground calling in strikes during the second tour. 

"I made it my purpose, from day one, to never go to bed with any doubt whether I had done the right thing…whether I had shot at the Taliban and only Taliban, without civilians in the vicinity. I wanted to return to Great Britain with all my limbs, but more than that I wanted to get home with my conscience intact," the excerpts from the Spanish version of his book 'Spare' transcribed into English, read.

"When I was plunged into the heat and confusion of battle, I didn't think about those as 25 people. You can't kill people if you see them as people. In truth, you can't hurt people if you see them as people. They were chess pieces taken off the board, bad guys eliminated before they kill good guys."

Credit: AP

Veteran Andrew Ferguson Neil FRSA of The Sunday Times, derided Harry in a tweet as he said: "Harry's claim that he killed 25 Taliban is a nightmare, an absolute nightmare, for his security teams. How stupid can you be?"

Ben McBean, a Former Royal Marine who lost an arm and a leg serving with the Royal Marines in Afghanistan, tweeted "Love you Prince Harry but you need to shut up! Makes you wonder about the people he's hanging around with. If it was good people somebody by now would have told him to stop.". 

Colonel Richard Kemp, who went to Kabul in 2003 to take command of forces in Afghanistan, berated Harry's comments in the statement with Mirror and other press services, saying that he had "gone too far" and is jeopardising the safety of British soldiers by leaking details of covert operations. 

"All the good work Prince Harry did on behalf of the Armed forces has been undermined by his comments. Not only has he gone too far in talking about this in terms of himself but it may have repercussions for others. As a member of Royal Family he has to accept being something of an ambassador for the UK, so his comments may affect the security of his former comrades on foreign operations," Colonel Richard Kemp noted.

"In terms of the numbers he’s talking about… He himself is already under threat for his own secret and by resurrecting it in quite such stark terms now undermines his own security." Kemp said.  "That sort of figure that doesn’t need to be given. It will remind people that 10 years ago there was this very high-profile man killing people that they might have sympathy for in Afghanistan and might well be provoked to attempt revenge."

Kemp noted that the other problem he found with Harry's comments was that "he characterised the British Army basically as having trained him and other soldiers to see his enemy as less than human, just as chess pieces on a board to be swiped off, which is not the case. It’s the opposite of the case."

Credit: AP

A retired-commanding officer Colonel Collins condemned the book as he told Forces News that it was a "tragic money-making scam". Col Collins addressed Prince Harry, saying, "That is not how you behave in the army, it's not how we think. He has badly let the side down. We don't do notches on the rifle butt. We never did." Widely known for his moving speech battle speech to British troops in Iraq, ex Col Collins said: "Harry has now turned against the other family, the military, that once embraced him having trashed his birth family and pursuing riches he does not need."

UK's former National Security Advisor, Kim Darroch, told broadcaster Sky news that he would have "advised Prince Harry" not to make public military details.  "Personally if I'd been advising the Prince, I would have advised against the kind of detail he goes into." 

Britain's Ministry of Defence spokesperson, when reached for comments about the Prince's kill number by UK broadcasters said: "We do not comment on operational details for security reasons." British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, also deflected from making remarks at Harry, saying he was "enormously grateful to our armed forces".

Taliban reacts: 'Not chess pieces..'

A senior Taliban leader Anas Haqqani, responded to Harry's claim of killings in Afghanistan as he tweeted: "Mr. Harry! The ones you killed were not chess pieces, they were humans; they had families who were waiting for their return." He furthermore derided Prince Harry and the international community, saying that he does not expect the International Criminal Court ICJ to summon Harry and hold him accountable or expect the human rights activists to condemn him," because they are "deaf and blind". 

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Published January 7th, 2023 at 16:21 IST

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