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A Tory MP has suggested that Prince Harry’s claim that he killed 25 members of the Taliban while serving in Afghanistan could pose security risks to the Invictus Games.
The Duke of Sussex, known as ‘Captain Wales’ in the army, wrote in his memoir, Spare, that he did not think of those he killed ‘as people’. but ‘chess pieces’ that he had removed from the board.
This morning Tobias Ellwood, a senior MP and chairman of the Commons Defense Committee, said the disclosure in Harry’s memoir was “misguided”.
Speaking about the Invictus Games, a sporting event created by the Prince for wounded, sick and injured soldiers, he told Sky News: “I am concerned that this has security implications.”
Harry revealed that he killed 25 Taliban fighters on his tours in Afghanistan in his book, due out in the UK on Tuesday.
Tobias Ellwood, a senior MP and chairman of the Commons Defense Committee, said the revelation in Harry’s memoir was “misguided” and warned there may be “security implications” for the Invictus Games.
The MP, who also served in the British Army, said: “One of the rare occasions I’ve worked with Prince Harry was at the Invictus Games in Sydney and in Toronto etc.
‘Amazing effort. This was his design, this was his creation.
“And now I’m concerned that something that has been so important to veterans to help rehab is now going to be affected because there could be security implications if he’s involved in that.”
It comes as Rusty Firmin, an SAS hero of the Iranian embassy siege, has warned that Prince Harry’s claims have vastly increased the threat to his own family and other key royals.
Rusty Fermin pictured here kneeling next to Prince Charles and Princess Diana while serving in the SAS
Ellwood said his claim could put the security of the Invictus Games at risk. Pictured: Prince Harry congratulating the British team medal winner at the Invictus Gams in The Hague, Netherlands, in April.
It is a threat that will not go away, and it is a sentiment shared by many, including a former British commander in Afghanistan, Colonel Richard Kemp.
War veterans and defense experts have warned that Prince Harry now faces a lifetime of looking over his shoulder and has even increased risk to his family.
Firmin openly questioned the ‘death count’ revealed by Harry in his memoir, Spare. The Duke of Sussex, who flew an Apache helicopter in Afghanistan, likened the Taliban’s targets to chess pieces on a board.
“From what I’ve been told, he was a gunner, not a pilot,” Rusty said. ‘Anyway, I don’t know how he positively counted 25.
‘I find it hard to believe that an Apache crew member could provide exact numbers. I find it strange, I’m skeptical.
You’ve used a lot of jargon about military service, but I haven’t heard anyone refer to human lives as chess pieces. To them, Prince Harry was the enemy. For us, they were the enemy. You have to respect that.’
Rusty, a notorious member of the Who Dares Wins regiment for 15 years, fears that extremists are now plotting to make Harry pay for his words. He is sure of it.
The 72-year-old said yesterday: ‘I wouldn’t want to be in his place.
“He shot himself in the foot and I just hope that’s the worst that can come out.”
Rusty, now a successful author, was part of the notorious SAS team that stormed the Iranian embassy in South Kensington after six armed terrorists stormed the building in 1980.
In 1983, he rushed to the rescue of Princess Diana when she and Charles secretly participated in an anti-terrorism and kidnapping drill at the SAS headquarters in Herefordshire.
Harry said on Spare that he didn’t think of his targets as humans, but as chess pieces on a board.
Rusty, a notorious member of the Who Dares Wins regiment for 15 years, fears that extremists are now plotting to make Harry pay for his words.
Rusty sprang into action after a stray pellet from a flashbang grenade set Diana’s hair on fire. He put out the flames.
“Harry has put himself and other family members at much greater risk,” Rusty said.
“As a terrorist target, Harry is now up there. It’s not just him at risk, it’s his family, his children, and possibly military family members.
He is a prince. Reverbs are so much more than just reading a line in a book. The Taliban have sat around and pretended to be Mr. Nice Guy, but they haven’t changed. They will study those words and decide what they want to do with them.
I am from the time of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, I met her more than once. From what he knew of her, he would want nothing to do with this.
Rusty, who served in the military for 27 years before providing personal security for the rich and famous, has strong working ties to the royal family. He believes that the leading members of the monarchy, and those charged with following them, will be forever haunted by Harry’s revelations.
“I was involved in royal protection for two years,” he said, “I know the officers who will deal with this.” They are more at risk.
Colonel Richard Kemp said Prince Harry’s comments were an “own goal” and raised the threat level against him.
He has turned a lot of the military against him and the military was a part of my family for a long time. If you turn that against yourself too, you have nowhere to go. He is destined to be a loner, a man with no one to support him.
You have the rest of your life to look over your shoulder.
He was not the only veteran to criticize the Duke of Sussex’s comments, with former British commander in Afghanistan Colonel Richard Kemp describing his words as “misjudged”.
Colonel Kemp told LBC on Saturday: “I think it is an own goal to announce this number of deaths and attract the interest of the Taliban.”
He was already under threat as someone who has fought in Afghanistan and obviously a very high profile international fear. He was already under terrorist threat and that is quite well known. But this, if anything, has increased that threat.
Describing Taliban fighters as ‘chess pieces’, and not humans, he added: ‘I have never come across any training to suggest that that should happen.’
But he said Prince Harry had a “phenomenal reputation within the military and the veterans community.”
Colonel Kemp also expressed concern that the Prince’s comments could be used by lawyers trying to prosecute British soldiers for their actions while on duty: “Another concern of mine is that his comments will be used by lawyers who want to drag British soldiers to court”. accusing them of war crimes and unlawful killings.
“They will use their comments in court to say: ‘British soldiers are not trained to even see their enemies as human, so it is not surprising that they have to act.'”
One security expert went so far as to say that Prince Harry has “nonsense that knows no bounds.”
Also speaking to LBC, Professor Anthony Glees, a professor of politics at the University of Birmingham who specializes in security, said: “He [Prince Harry] it had probably been like that [traumatised] He himself, has had a life full of traumas, poor boy.
“But the way you deal with these things is to reflect, to take advice from superior officers, from psychologists, and you don’t put yourself, your children or your wife at any obvious risk.”
“The Taliban don’t care about your state of mind, they don’t care if you suddenly woke up, if you suddenly saw the light, if you suddenly opposed British policy.
“All the time it’s undermining our military in this country.”
He added: ‘Think of how Putin must be grinning from ear to ear at what Prince Harry has said. So I think the damage is very deep.
Prince Harry’s comments about his time in Afghanistan were uploaded to Twitter by Meghan’s close friend Omid Scobie. while launching a fierce defense of the memories.
Prince Harry wrote: “Afghanistan was a war of mistakes, a war of enormous collateral damage: thousands of innocents killed and maimed, and it always haunted us.
“So my goal from the day I arrived was to never go to bed doubting that I had done the right thing, that my aims had been correct, that I was shooting at the Taliban and only at the Taliban.”
The Duke of Sussex wrote: ‘While in the heat and fog of combat I did not think of those twenty-five as persons. You can’t kill people if you think of them as people.
He also described how helicopter technology allowed him to know exactly how many people he had killed, and that his kill count gave him neither “satisfaction” nor “embarrassment”.