[R-G] Prince Harry of Afghanistan

[Anthony Fenton]

Weekend Edition
March 1 / 2, 2008
The Meaning of Normalcy
Prince Harry of Afghanistan
http://www.counterpunch.org/hussain03012008.html
By FAHEEM HUSSAIN

     "It's very nice to be a sort of normal person for once, I think  
this is about as normal as I'm ever going to get." Prince Harry on  
his time in Helmand Province in Afghanistan.

The BBC reported these words with approval. It's nice to know that  
this is what is considered normal for a young man in the UK. I guess  
it is normal to send 23 year olds to join an illegal occupation army.  
It is normal to call in air strikes (this was Harry's job) to drop  
1000-pound bombs on villages killing and destroying men, women,  
children, animals. It is normal to go on foot patrol in an occupied  
country and look down with contempt on the poor people of the country  
and it is normal to feel the hatred emanating from the people of the  
occupied country.

I am sure that Prince Harry feels terribly elated and uplifted by his  
10 weeks in Helmand where he did his duty in the great Western  
"humanitarian" enterprise to spread democracy and bring development  
to Afghanistan. Did he ever wonder why NATO is losing the war in  
Afghanistan? Did he ever wonder why the resistance is getting popular  
support? Did he ever think of why opium production in Afghanistan has  
reached record levels since the US and NATO occupied the country? Did  
he ever look at the suppressed women in burkas and wonder what  
happened to all the promises of "liberating women" which was one of  
the so-called humanitarian reasons given by the US for attacking  
Afghanistan? Or was he there just to have a "normal" time with the  
blokes, kick around a football, have a couple of beers, try to push  
start an abandoned motorbike and have a fun time interspersed with  
calling in air strikes to kill a few more Afghans?

Perhaps this is what is recommended for the "gap year". Take a mini- 
break, go to Afghanistan (or Iraq or wherever), have a fun time with  
the blokes, kill a few locals and be back to the cool life in the UK  
feeling fulfilled that you are a "normal" bloke now. Such an  
experience will surely stand you in good stead for the rest of your  
life.

Faheem Hussain is Visiting Professor of Physics at the School of  
Science and Engineering, Lahore University of Management Sciences,  
Lahore, Pakistan.