Posted on 02/06/2008 1:13:40 PM PST by blam
Prince Andrew angers Palace with US attack
By Andrew Pierce
Last Updated: 2:44am GMT 06/02/2008
The Duke of York has angered the Queen and senior politicians with his extraordinary attack on the White House on the eve of his trade mission to the United States.
Downing Street and the Foreign Office were also dismayed by the timing of his comments so close to the Super Tuesday primaries.
The Duke of York is about to embark on a 10-day mission to the US as British trade envoy
The duke's criticism, in a newspaper interview, of President Bush's post-war strategy for Iraq demolished the protocol that members of the Royal Family refrain from public comment on sensitive international and political issues.
In the interview, timed to mark the start of his 10-day mission to the US in his role as a British trade envoy, he said that there were "occasions when people in the UK would wish that those in responsible positions in the US might listen and learn from our experiences".
The aftermath of the Iraq conflict fuelled a "healthy scepticism" towards what is said in Washington, and a feeling of "why didn't anyone listen to what was said and the advice that was given?"
The remarks caused astonishment in Whitehall. The Prime Minister's official spokesman declined to be drawn but both Downing Street and the Foreign Office were irritated.
A senior Whitehall source said: "The remarks are not just unhelpful but the timing could not be much worse as the Super Tuesday primaries unfold.
"If Iraq had been a big issue in those elections his remarks could have been turned into a major diplomatic incident. He of all people should know that."
The Queen, who always studiously avoids politically sensitive subjects, was unhappy at the controversy, according to royal sources. One said: "Of course he should not have strayed into that area."
Sir Menzies Campbell, the former Liberal Democrat leader who is a member of the Commons foreign affairs select committee, said: "These are stormy waters. Prince Andrew would be well advised to steer clear of them. I imagine that the Foreign Office and Number 10 are not best pleased by his intervention."
Mike Gapes, the chairman of the same committee, said: "Members of the Royal Family should not get involved in politically controversial matters. I was very surprised by what he said. I do not know who his advisers are, but he needs new ones."
A White House spokesman declined to comment on the comments by the duke, who served in the Royal Navy for 22 years and was a helicopter pilot during the Falklands conflict.
He described that experience as one that changed him "out of all recognition".
Buckingham Palace confirmed the published quotes in the International Herald Tribune were accurate. "The remarks he made were not meant as a rebuke or an attack," said a spokesman.
The duke was referring indirectly to the criticism made by senior British military figures that the US did not heed advice about the decision to ban Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath Party and the dismantling of the Iraqi military.
The duke said that because of its imperial history, Britain had experienced much of what the US was going through in Iraq.
"If you are looking at colonialism,... at operations on an international scale,... at understanding each other's culture, understanding how to operate in a military insurgency campaign - we have been through them all," he was quoted as saying.
Andy needs to take lessons on foreign policy from his first cousin, Juan Carlos of Spain.
What's that word?
If Iraq had been a big issue in those elections
That first word again?
If Iraq had been a big issue in those elections
Say it again?
If Iraq had been a big issue in those elections
Someone please tell Randy Andy to take a look at how the Brit-run areas of Iraq differ from the American-protected ones.
Let’s see..
Basra.. Brits let Shiite gangsters run amuck, still a hole, while they scurry away with tails between legs.
US-protected areas...Locals helping our forces take down bad guys, less violence, power and services approaching or exceeding pre-war levels.
Which sounds better to you, Andy??
Send him to Afghanistan instead, and let him fly a helicopter.
“Listen and learn from our experiences”. We did, that’s why we got rid of you and your German ancestors.
Just like his brother, Trapclap Charlie, a REAL royal parasite that DUD Andy.
All of England is bowing to Islam and he wants us to learn from them!? Thanks but no thanks, Prince.
I’m afraid Andy is right that we made a lot of mistakes immediately following Saddam’s ouster. It wasn’t until the last year or so that we really started making serious headway. We’d have been better served to employ the Petraeus strategy from the day we rolled into Baghdad.
Rush said it last year, I think just as the surge was starting, or maybe before.
He said, mark my words, ladies and gentlemen - by the time of the elections, the economy will have replaced Iraq as the hot issue.
Although he sounds like a 19-year old, fashionably USA-bashing sophomore at Swarthmore, the person speaking was actually a middle-aged British male.
Talk about irony and hypocrisy: Of all people who should learn from experience and mistakes, it is someone who has been in the public eye for decades, with the press ALWAYS hanging around hoping for a wayward remark.
Dumb. (Also substantively wrong, but what’s inarguably dumb is that he said this openly instead of venting it privately somewhere.)
Too much inbreeding.
They are hardly first cousins. But they are distance cousins several times over. That said, I am a huge admirer of the Spanish King.
We listened to your experience britboy and found it lacking... You have nothing to teach us. Stay home!
Duke, Duke, Duke, Duke of York
Duke, Duke, Duke of York
Duke, Duke, Duke of York
Isn’t the the cuckold?
Stupidity! If only he were more cognizant of their present situation of becoming the first EU nation to become totally Muslim...and with the help of his own short-sighted, stupid family!
Tell the Queen not to worry; no one gives a $hit what her son says.
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