by John Waters

Created on: March 01, 2008

The media was gagged by the government imposition of a D notice forbidding any disclosure of the subject matter relating to the princes tour of duty in Afghanistan. The sweetener for compliance with the D notice was to be access to official media coverage of the princes heroic exploits once his tour of duty was complete and he had left Afghanistan. The D notice has historically been used to gag the media in times of crisis and in the interest of national security. In this case the interest of national security would have been best served by keeping the prince out of Afghanistan and avoiding any need to muzzle the press.

Now the story has broken there are many questions that should be asked. Why would the chiefs of staff and the government even consider letting Harry go to Afghanistan? Why would they consider it essential to send this young and inexperienced officer when the risk to him and anybody serving with him was so great? Were they simply giving in to the royal tantrum of "let me go to war or I will resign my commission"? Maybe there was an ulterior motive. Maybe the intention was to manufacture propaganda showing the war in a new and favorable light. Maybe the princes tour would culminate with newsreel of courageous deeds protecting civilians and slaying the barbarians, a bit like the glorious boys own days. Maybe this could change public perception away from the vision of misery and slaughter that our presence in Afghanistan is causing.

Our media behaved in a very proper manner complying with a D notice which should never have been issued in the first place. It is disgraceful that the media should have been muzzled in this way and sickening that the government will decide which stories the media can print and when and what information will be released. The government has once again demonstrated appalling mismanagement in its handling of this affair and a shameful propensity to hide the truth. Did they really think they could get away with it? The truth will always out in the end. Yes the media ended it for Harry, yes the breaking news created danger for Harry and his men but now the danger is over because he has gone home. On the whole it has been a good ending in that the media uncovered his presence before the taliban or other terrorists found him.

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