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9:22 pm - 01/22/2013

Prince Harry compares killing insurgents in Afghanistan to playing a video game


Taliban leaders have fired back at Prince Harry over the royal's comments that piloting a helicopter in Afghanistan—where he says he killed insurgents during his recent tour of duty—is like playing a video game.

Harry, who co-piloted an Apache helicopter during his 20-week tour, made the comparison in an interview broadcast by the BBC Monday night.

“It’s a joy for me because I’m one of those people who loves playing PlayStation and Xbox," the 28-year-old said. "So with my thumbs I like to think I’m probably quite useful."

The Taliban did not appreciate the comparison.

“This statement is not even worth condemning. It is worse than that,” Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman told London's Telegraph. “To describe the war in Afghanistan as a game demeans anyone—especially a prince, who is supposed to be made of better things.”

Mujahid continued: “It shows the lack of understanding, of knowledge. It shows they are unfamiliar with the situation and shows why they are losing. ... It’s not a game. It’s very, very real."

I comments published in the Daily Mirror on Monday, Harry confirmed that he killed Taliban insurgents during his deployment.

“Yeah, so lots of people have," Harry said. "The squadron’s been out here. Everyone’s fired a certain amount."

The prince, known as Captain Wales and nicknamed "Ugly," said he fired on the Taliban during an attack on Camp Bastion in southern Afghanistan last fall. “Take a life to save a life," he said. "That’s what we revolve around, I suppose."

A few days before the insurgent attack on Camp Bastion, Mujahid ha told Reuters: "We are using all our strength to get rid of him, either by killing or kidnapping."

Sharifullah Kamawal, a member of the Afghan parliament, told the Telegraph that Harry's latest comments could disrupt relations between soldiers and locals there.

“This makes the withdrawal process much faster, because for now half of the people say the foreign forces must stay for longer," Kamawal said. "But if they say these kind of things, then more people will want them to go home."

Source

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fay_of_sunshine 22nd-Jan-2013 08:34 pm (UTC)
co-signed
beatlesluv 22nd-Jan-2013 09:03 pm (UTC)
It's very cold...so very cold :( I can't believe how nonchalant he is about it/like it's a joke or something.

I'd like to believe hat this is his way of compartmentalizing, and not feeling the fact that he's had to/will have to take lives. But if it is he should have kept it to himself. -_- cause it sounds really disturbing to me :/

theblackwidow 22nd-Jan-2013 09:11 pm (UTC)
Sadly, I think it is part of their training. I recently talked to this boy I went to HS with who has done 2 tours in Afghanistan and he said very similar things
beatlesluv 22nd-Jan-2013 09:28 pm (UTC)
That's what it sounded like to me. It just sounds so detached and heartless...a person not in service would never speak like that... :/ I don't know how military men and women do what they do.
bighype 22nd-Jan-2013 10:10 pm (UTC)
by going through training or more like brainwashing
sarahsumbrella 23rd-Jan-2013 03:29 pm (UTC)
yep, this isn't the first time I've heard soldiers compare killing to video games. One guy said that in their tank they all listened to Metallica while firing at people, which made it even more video-game like.
pon_pon_pink 22nd-Jan-2013 11:10 pm (UTC)
a friend of mine who went through military service in Korea said it's pure brainwashing. he told me some of his friends were super liberal but after going through training they were like "fuck all those north koreans! they shall die!" so i imagine other countries being similar. sure not everyone gets affected the same way and some cope with having to kill people different than others but yeah this totally sounds like his wat of compartmentalizing...and as you said he shouldn't have said it in an interview like that ...
beatlesluv 24th-Jan-2013 12:52 am (UTC)
Oh wow :/ I can imagine that being the way to go about things unfortunately. :( I think everyone would likely be different in how they cope too and how it impacts how they perceive things in life.
fantaesticbaby 22nd-Jan-2013 10:02 pm (UTC)
mte the royal family are in-bred idiots. why do people think of them as anything more?
lostinshalott 23rd-Jan-2013 01:46 am (UTC)
but this whole article is out of context he was talking about flying in general and how playing video games helped him be a good pilot not that killing people was like a video game.
This is the original article:http://kotaku.com/5977918/prince-harry-thrashed-fellow-troops-at-fifa-while-in-afghanistan

Edited at 2013-01-23 02:05 am (UTC)
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