Editorial: The royal treatment

Sunday, Feb. 25, 2007 | 7:23 a.m.

Britain's rowdy redheaded Prince Harry is heading off to Iraq as a second lieutenant charged with leading a 12-member tank reconnaissance unit.

The 22-year-old could become the first member of the British royalty to see combat since Prince Andrew, his uncle, served as a Royal Navy pilot in the 1982 Falklands War, the Associated Press reports.

Prince Harry didn't have to do this. One day before the prince's deployment was announced last week, British Prime Minister Tony Blair announced that in the coming months he would bring home 1,600 of the 7,100 British troops serving in southern Iraq.

But in an interview on his 21st birthday, Prince Harry said there was no question he would go, adding, "There's no way I'm going to put myself through Sandhurst (Royal Military Academy) and then sit back on my arse back home while my boys are out fighting for their country."

The prince's action stands in stark contrast to the appalling lack of such sacrifice on the part of the children of the U.S. political elite. For that matter, when President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney were Prince Harry's age, they worked hard to successfully avoid combat in Vietnam. Like the young Bush, Prince Harry has lived the life of a spoiled playboy. But he isn't using his wealth and social standing as a get-out-of-war-free card.

Hail to the prince. May he come home safely.