After the publication of his memoirs, Prince Harry accused the British media of misrepresenting his account of the murder of people in Afghanistan.
“Without a doubt, the most dangerous lie they told is that I kind of bragged about the number of people I killed in Afghanistan,” the 38-year-old said on US television last night (local time). CBS’s “Late Night Show” by Stephen Colbert.
AP/CBS/Scott Kowalchyk
“I would be upset if someone bragged about something like that. But it’s a lie. My words are not dangerous.” The “turn” of the British media – that is, the presentation of its descriptions –, however, is already.
Problem of “taught detachment”
In a passage in his autobiography, Spare, Harry writes about the number of people he killed in his operations in Afghanistan. “Well, my number: twenty-five. It wasn’t a number that gave me any satisfaction. But it wasn’t a number I was ashamed of either.”
While he would prefer not to have that number on his military resume, he would also prefer to live “in a world without Taliban and without war”. However, some facts could not be changed.
The passage where Harry describes the “taught deployment” of soldiers as problematic received less attention. In the CBS interview, Harry said it has been “painful and challenging” to see reactions to leaked details of his book over the last few days without being able to do anything about it.
After two decades of working with veterans around the world, he believes that openness and honesty are important for others to feel comfortable sharing their experiences.