Spare: Prince Harry takes a dig at New Idea after revealing he was fighting in Afghanistan

Prince Harry has taken a dig at the Australian gossip magazine that broke a global media embargo and forced its withdrawal from Afghanistan in his memoir, Spare.

The Duke of Sussex’s first deployment to Afghanistan was cut short in February 2008 after it was revealed by New Idea that he was in Helmand province fighting the Taliban.

That original report in the magazine was followed up in the United States by Matt Drudge’s news website, Drudge Report.

Harry recalls in his new memoir, Spare, the moment his commanding officer, whom he calls only ‘Colonel Ed’, told him how a media embargo on his publication had been breached on the other side of the world.

Prince Harry blamed New Idea and an American reporter for sharing a story published in an ‘inconsequential’ Australian magazine about his presence in Afghanistan forcing him to withdraw from the war zone. He is pictured in Helmand province in February 2008.

The Duke of Sussex’s first deployment to Afghanistan was cut short in February 2008 after celebrity gossip magazine New Idea revealed that he was in Helmand province fighting the Taliban. He appears outside a Scottish service honoring those killed in Afghanistan in June 2008.

“An Australian magazine picked up the story and told everyone that I was in Afghanistan,” he writes.

‘The magazine was inconsequential, so no one had noticed the story at first, until some [journalist] in the US they read the article, posted it on their c***py website, and crawlers got hold of it.

Harry writes that Colonel Ed apologized that he would have to be evacuated and the young prince almost begged to stay, but knew he couldn’t for the safety of those around him.

“Now that the Lebanese knew that I was in the country, and more or less where, they would use all their efforts to eliminate me,” he writes.

Harry recalls in his new memoir, Spare, the moment his commanding officer, whom he calls only ‘Colonel Ed’, told him how a media embargo on his publication had been breached on the other side of the world. Harry appears in the photo with his wife Meghan

After shaking Colonel Ed’s hand, Harry left his tent, packed up his belongings, and said goodbye to some of his comrades. He then boarded a Chinook helicopter and an hour later was in Kandahar.

The Defense Ministry explained that it was too dangerous for the 23-year-old to complete the last month of his 14-week rotation.

“This decision was made primarily on the basis that global media coverage of Prince Harry could affect the safety of those deployed there, as well as the risks to him as an individual soldier,” it said in a statement.

New Idea later issued an apology for violating the media blackout on Harry’s presence in Afghanistan.

“We regret this serious error in judgment,” said its publisher.

“We sincerely apologize to all of our readers, to the military whose lives are constantly at risk while serving at home and abroad, and to their families and loved ones.”

“The magazine was inconsequential, so no one had picked up on the story at first, until some jerk in the US read the article, posted it on his c***py website, and the crawlers took over.” of the”. Harry writes to Spare. He pictures the prince wielding a machine gun in January 2008.

Harry, who returned to Afghanistan flying Apache attack helicopters in 2012, revealed in Spare that he killed 25 Taliban during that second tour.

He has been heavily criticized by former soldiers for revealing the number of insurgents he has killed, whom he described as “chess pieces removed from the board.”

During a trip to Australia in June 2017, Harry said he had felt “guilty” about being evacuated from Afghanistan because New Idea revealed where he had been stationed.

“I could no longer stay with my soldiers because it would have put them at greater risk,” he said in Sydney at the time.

“It was a decision I had no control over, but the guilt of having to leave my guys behind was something I found hard to swallow as anyone who has served would understand.”

“It was that flight home from Afghanistan that set me on the path to creating the Invictus Games.”

After shaking Colonel Ed’s hand, Harry left his tent, packed up his belongings, and said goodbye to his comrades. He then boarded a Chinook helicopter and an hour later was in Kandahar. Harry is shown sitting on his cot at a forward operating base in January 2008.

It wasn’t until preparing to board that plane in Kandahar that Harry first realized the devastation the conflict was causing.

“While we were waiting to board, a coffin of a young Danish soldier and three soldiers in an induced coma were brought onto the plane, all three wrapped in plastic, some with missing limbs and tubes sticking out everywhere,” he said.

“The sacrifices we ask our men and women to make hit me so powerfully in those moments.”

On a trip to the Warrior Games in the United States in 2013, Harry saw how sport could help servicemen and women who had been physically or psychologically injured by war.

He was inspired by that visit and the Invictus Games were born.