Harry: That's the way to do it

Hat's off to Prince Harry for finding a way to get out there and serve on the front line with his troops. Doing it by stealth was far better than hailing his deployment from the rooftops like they tried to do with his Iraq deployment and which was a recipe for disaster.

The British media also deserve some credit for keeping this story quiet.

Now the news is out I am afraid he has to be pulled out. It is not about him, but the fact that his presence is known means that he will be targeted and that means the troops he serves with are under more threat.

Some of the stuff flying around now about whether his involvement makes him more of a terrorist target back home is absolute claptrap. In the current environment the Royals are all targets and will remain targets whilst the situation remains the same.

Have they Thought Prince Harry's Deployment Through

I don't blame Prince Harry for wanting to serve alongside his troops in Iraq, it is a totally commendable attitude. I do hope however, that the powers-that-be have thought this through.

They need to be assured that there is no potential for specific information to be leaked about who is going on patrol when, otherwise there is a specific threat to Prince Harry. I suspect this particular issue has been thought about, the area I would have more concern about is whether his presence will lead to an increase in general attacks on Blues and Royals patrols in the hope of getting a patrol commanded by Prince Harry on the off-chance. If this is a possibility, it means that Prince Harry's presence could lead to an increased threat to our troops.

My concern is that the clamour to provide some more good PR for Prince Harry and a good news Iraq story, some of the negative issues will have been missed. I hope I'm wrong.