February 29th, 2008 at 2:26 am
The discovery and publication of the whereabouts of Prince Harry of Wales involves interesting ethical issues on the part of the media and the military.
BBC reports that the British army will likely move Prince Harry out of Afghanistan for fear that he would become a prized target for the Taliban.
A famous personality in the military doesn’t have to be a liability. General George S. Patton led the First U.S. Army Group, a phantom force, to confuse the Germans as to the location and time of the Allied invasion in World War II. Of course, the nature of Patton’s celebrity was quite different than Prince Harry’s, through no fault of the prince’s.
Expecting the media not to publish is like asking a snake not to bite. They were bought off with special access to the prince, but the secret was going to get out. The press’s function is completely at odds with the military’s need not to let the enemy know what it is doing. That’s not to say they aren’t culpable; their job is to accurately report what is going on with as little regard to their personal worldview as possible. Oops.
The prince is a high-value target because the world has seen how Britannia treats its dead own. Everything shuts down and everyone lines the streets in mourning. It is a strategic advantage to lend to the right enemy. The decision to move the prince is likely the right one. The uniform confers only a sense of individual anonymity to the enemy.
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