Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Pompous Prince

Prince Andrew whining the the US didn't listen.
The prince has a full-time role as a trade envoy for Britain but for 22 years he was in the Royal Navy, serving as a helicopter pilot during the Falklands conflict, and Iraq is a preoccupation.

Because of its imperial history, Britain has experienced much of what the United States is going through, Prince Andrew said.

"If you are looking at colonialism, if you are looking at operations on an international scale, if you are looking at understanding each other's culture, understanding how to operate in a military insurgency campaign - we have been through them all," he said. "We've won some, lost some, drawn some. The fact is there is quite a lot of experience over here which is valid and should be listened to."

So let's see, what advice should we be listening to? The methods the Brits used to screw up Cyprus? How about the way the managed Kenya? Aden? Burma? Palestine? Or maybe how they made a complete mess out of Iraq in the '20s?

No doubt they had success in Indonesia, but the similarities to the issues in Iraq are hugely different. Larger land mass, religious schisms, tribal frictions, out-side interference at both the state, group, and individual level. Yeah, taking their advice would have been wonderful, and likely would have been worthless.




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