The Boy's Coming Home...

Well, I began to feel a bit bad about my scepticism over the whole Harry in Afghanistan thing and I started to feel a bit sorry for the boy. He has spent years now training as a soldier and for what...10 weeks and its all over for him. He seems to want to fight and genuinely appears frustrated that his tour of duty has been interrupted.....But, I still can't help getting annoyed by this story.

Apparently the media have known all along that he was there. The story only came to light apparently because a US tabloid paper released the story. Then the media feeding frenzy started. The Taliban must've thought that Ross Kemp and his whole family were back in town. What we've seen continually since the story broke is Harry everywhere and doing everything. Harry firing a gun, Harry speaking into a phone in a slightly peculiar way, Harry washing his socks, Harry reading the Sun on the loo....well not the last one. The cameras probably have it but the censors have probably vetoed it. It'll be on the web soon enough I'm sure. More importantly, for the current administration and the Royal family though is that this fully documented stint (or stunt) will make for excellent propaganda. The whole story makes me wonder a few things. Firstly, I wonder how long it will be before the documentary is released. I wonder if Harry knew that he was just there as a massive publicity stunt. How will Harry adjust from "normal life", (which is apparently what he was leading in Afghanistan) when he returns to England and the hoards of paparazzi from Afghanistan (and the hoards of paparazzi). The worlds media have been there from the beginning of his tour but refrained from publishing the news because of the obvious dangers. I would've thought that any Taliban with half a brain and a set of binoculars would suspect from this high concentration of "non butch" men and women running around with cameras following a young blonde man around a heavily fortified position, that something was awry. Finally, the media have been banging on about how restrained they have been in this whole situation (of course before the story broke). The poor media....it must have been killing them knowing this massive secret and not being able to tell anyone....until the US broke the story and some arcane imaginary voice commanded "release hell!" It wouldn't surprise me if the journalists sitting around in a tent one morning in Harry's camp didn't just draw lots to who was going to break the story and be the villain so they could all go to work in ernest. Funny thing is, and it may be public knowledge, but I've missed finding out which US paper or TV station leaked the story in the first place.