By By MICHAEL FJETLAND
Thumbs up for Prince Harry having the guts to serve in Afghanistan – for 10 weeks until Drudge leaked that information, endangering both Prince Harry and his fellow soldiers by making the Taliban aware of his presence.
Thumbs down for Drudge.
Taliban can read and Drudge made Harry's base a bigger target than it was.
It cut Harry off from serving his full tour of duty.
Compare Harry's actions with President Bush's.
Were Bush's daughters serving on the front line?
No, although many American women, including mothers with children, are serving today.
Prince Harry was within 500 yards of the Taliban and wasn't getting special treatment even though our allies control only 30 percent of the country, according to our own intelligence.
Meanwhile, the U.S. is demanding that the same U.S. soldiers and their families repeat tours of duty in Iraq, as many as three or four, because too few people – especially the sons and daughters of the privileged – are willing to do so.
It's not Jenna and Barbara doing without body armor or waiting on an MRAP to avoid being killed by an IED. Afghanistan is now supplying 93 percent of the world's heroin, which finances the Taliban. The Taliban are now importing insurgent techniques learned in Iraq, such as IEDs and suicide bombings.
They are a growing menace.
We still have too few NATO troops in Afghanistan and no strategy to win. Recent TV reports showed four passes from Afghanistan to Pakistan that have no NATO patrols to keep out the Taliban for lack of sufficient troops. That makes it an "open door" for Taliban to cross over from training on the Pakistan side. If Sen. McCain wants us in Iraq for the next "100 years" he will have to draft kids into service to fight. If Prince Harry can serve on the front lines, U.S. kids of the privileged will have to do the same if we are an American system is based on equality.
But the problem won't diminish until we get involved in providing real education to Pakistani children to replace the 30,000 Madrassas teaching them hate instead of reading and math.