Matt Drudge Flamed for Blowing Prince Harry's Cover

Matt Drudge reported yesterday that Prince Harry was fighting in Afghanistan, news that was being kept secret by the British media to prevent him from being targeted by the Taliban. I awoke this morning to a bunch of misdirected hate mail intended for Drudge, sent to me using the news tip box on the Drudge Retort.

If my inbox is any indication, Drudge must be getting hammered this morning for breaking the news:

You suck!

Reporting on his service is well within you rights.

It is also sleazeball ----.

The freedom to express any view does not give you the leeway to express any view. Grow up and learn what that 1st amendment means -- within a responsible society. I am very liberal, but I don't think that any ------- is a genius ...


Your reported expose of Prince Harry's military presence was reckless and should not have been done.


I can't believe you would release a story that puts the lives of soldiers in danger, and force Prince Harry to return from where he wants to be. Shame on you!


News flash ... your an ------- DRUDGE


You shameless useless -------. Most other media had the selfrespect and maturity to stick to an agreement. But you pondlife you just couldn't.

I hope you go bankrupt and your pages of useless slime disappear. All you have done is put Prince Harry's life at risk. You selfish sewer rat.


I must convey my absolute disgust at your ineptitude (look it up)at printing the whereabouts and activities of Prince Harry. Not content with making a complete mess of your own country and that of every country that listens to your foreign policies, you have to start meddling in the affairs of Great Britain.


SHAME ON YOU for exposing Prince Harry and his very brave colleagues to even more danger. You're an ass. You better pray he gets home safely.


Subject: Hope to boycott Drudge Report Sponsors

Your advertisement appears at drudge.com on the story which announces that Prince Harry is serving in Afghanistan.

The British royal family requested the press not report on this story to protect Harry and his comrade in arms from becoming targeted by the Taliban. Mr. Drudge's report puts them at risk.

I implore you to pull your advertisement from drudge.com immediately. Anyone who financially supports such an irresponsible reporter is not worthy of my or ANY responsible person's business. Mr. Drudge should not put the lives of men at risk who are fighting and dying for his precious 1st Amendment rights to make money.

Please explain any action (or inaction) you take so I can share it with my fellow veterans, their families, their friends, and anyone else who will listen. Rest assured that I will do so.

Sincerely,
[name removed], Lt. Colonel, USAF (Retired)


Subject: Matt, You Ass!

Matt:

Giving the Taliban a free shot at Prince Harry borders on attepmted murder. You are an ass! My hope is that one day you are outed in a similarly dangerous manner.

I will never read your rag again.

Pissed in New Orleans


Subject: Lowlifes

Drudge are a bunch of lowlifes. What with friendly fire, who needs Americans as our allies. By reporting about Prince Harry they are sentencing him and his comrades. Give us the French anytime

Some people on the Retort think I'm enjoying Drudge's predicament, but I agree with his decision to report the story. He wasn't a party to the agreement by the British media to keep the service a secret, and by the time he reported Harry's service, Germany's Bild newspaper and an Australian magazine had also covered it. The prince was such an obvious terror target that he was withdrawn immediately after Drudge reported the news. Why should Drudge have believed it was still a secret, given the appearances in other media?

Comments

I'm horrified by your irresponsibility, Drudge. If you can't do a proper journalist's job (oh, that's right--you're a neocon tabloid hack: of COURSE you can't do a proper journalist's job!), then leave reporting to people who understand what's appropriate to print and what's appropriate to let alone. You endangered a brave young man trying to serve his country, and you endangered his fellow troops. Proud of yourself? And your military service to the U.S. has been ... ? Shame on you! I urge all of your advertisers to dump you immediately!

You are such a low life little shit.Hope you are happy with your 5 mins.of fame, how low can you get?

Did you people read the article? This is not Matt Drudge nor the Drudge Report.

What morons these people are, confusing Report with Retort.

Drudge you're what we expect from our media; irresponsible, half-assed, sophomoric... keep up the good work. Change for the better scares the crap outta everybody, don't risk it.

It's just a real shame that one of the privileged people who actually WANTED to fight has to get pulled out as a result of the media coverage.

There's plenty of disaffected, underpriveleged soldiers in the armies of both the UK and the US. It's too bad the rich and famous obviously can't fight side-by-side with them.

Why should the usual hate filled voices let the facts get in the way? The US faithful faith haters mindless to march to the order of the mob - no backbone ...no mind to think and speak for themself. Let the echo chamber resound so we cannnot hear the facts. pathetic

Drudge is always on the cutting edge of breaking news - this is nothing different from any other day.

This is mostly a non-story because who in the US really cares about a British monarch system which is nothing more than a show to placate the traditions but lacking any true power to govern. Still the US citizens would rally if any of our leaders children were to go serve our country

Where are the US examples of Prince Harry? If there out there lets hear about it.

Typical Yank! If you are not killing British troops you are putting the lives of our Royal Family at risk. We are your only friends in the world right now. With friends like you who need enemy's. Give me the Russians or the Chinese any day. At least they would stab you in the front!!!!

Typical scumbag Yank.
Pity al-Qaeda didn't kill more of 'em on 9/11

Drudge is an ass. He's done the job of the Taliban and Al Qaida by removing a Combat effective officer as surely as if he'd shot him. The cohesiveness of the unit is now severely damaged, and someone now has to put that unit back together again.

Good work Drudge, way to "support the troops".

You and you're family must be proud! Your American Ivy league use power to get out of military service, yet our royal family has at least three members now who have fought for their country, democracy and freedom in three wars.

If you remember, these are the values USA supposed to stand for. But with rights comes responsibilities and it is interesting how quickly you are to lessen your blame by saying that you are only as irresponsible as others in Germany and Australia.

Great job.......you've risked lives of troops in a war zone to look big in front of your friends, a thought for you in your soft warm bed as you close your eyes in your safe home for sweet sleep knowing you will awake safely tomorrow.

Apparently, people don't have any reading comprehension whatsoever.

The importance of a free press in a free society is sacrosanct and many excellent reporters have unearthed scandle and corruption in politics. Prince Harry, however is not a politician He is a Royal, a very difficult status for Americans to understsnd because there is no parallel in your society. This report has not unearthed any scandle nor is it a great piece of investigative journalism but has simply endangered the life of a young man serving his country. I cannot help but feel that there are other more important areas of American politics that deserve the attention of your obvious talents.

Drudge....you are an absolute disgrace!!! truely a sub-human life form

I'm totally with Pirate. This cracks me up. These people are not even reading the post before they comment. Oy! Silly people.

You should be ashamed. This person, it appears, wanted nothing more than to serve his Country. After 21 1/2 years in the military, most on an Air Force combat crew, and including two combat tours in the Viet Nam conflict, I believe he should be lauded, not exposed to such potential danger he has to he withdrawn.

Assholes why could not respect the man's privacy ? Yoe would rather have people killed than keep your stupid mouth shut! SHAME ON YOU

You are such a terrible person for blowing his cover like that! SHAME ON YOU DRUDGE!

What's particularly sad about this affair is that Prince Harry, a graduate of Sandhurst, the UK's West Point, had tried to serve in Iraq, but because his ambition was widely publicised, al-Qaeda made it clear that he and his troop would be targeted until destroyed, as killing the Queen's grandson would be a tremendous propaganda coup.

However, Harry pressed his superiors to let him be a front line officer, which is what he was trained for. He had the example of his uncle to point to; Prince Andrew, a certified hero of the Falklands War who acted as bait for Exocet missiles, flying his helicopter at them to divert them from attacking the Navy's warships and then ducking out of harm's way at the last second. Chilling, white-knuckle work for a very brave young man. Harry's superiors couldn't disagree and so this deal was made with the press, that his service in Afghanistan would not be reported in exchange for interviews and photo ops after the fact. Needless to say, Harry is being hailed as a hero in the UK, saying laconically that it was a bit chilling in retrospect, thinking about the fact that the Taliban, if they found out he was there, would target and slot (kill) him. Needless to say, if he were captured and tortured or beheaded, the propaganda value would send their names round the world. Thus the British anger when the story broke, because they see him as yet another Royal willing to put his life on the line like the ordinary soldiers do. Personally, I think he's one of the good guys; no airs and graces, just a nice kid with a lot of guts, Princess Diana's boy, who wants to do his bit for his country. Hell, you've got to admire him; it would have been too easy to sit home and let other lads his age do the fighting, by letting himself be disqualified because of his royal status. I'm a Scottish Highlander, a people who measure a man by his medals, not his mouth and I'd serve with Harry any day, anywhere. It's unfortunate he has to leave the field because of the extreme danger he would now be in, but I can't see blaming Matt Drudge. Nobody told him about the media deal; and one iron rule is that you never take the blame for something you couldn't have known about. End of story.

Drudge, your name is mudge now to everyone! Exposing Prince Harry's courageous service is inexcusable, unprofessional and unnacceptable. Now we can all ignore everything you report from now on.

You are a turb.. An absolute turb..

Michael Paterson says his piece very well, and I second it.

I think young Harry is to be admired-- and the number of angry comments made here by people oblivious to any context is testimony to the warmth of feeling they have for their prince.

They really should read Roger's post, though.

YOU SUCK!

Kill every drudge reporter parasite!

If they are comfortable exposing soldiers to the enemy, they should be comfortable being in the crosshairs as well.

Remember the motto you c*cks*ckers, Speed is Life.

It was irresponsible of you to release information on the whereabouts of Prince Harry. Your reckless behavior could have put him and Her Majesty's Armed Forces serving with him in harm's way big time. I think you own His Royal Highness, his family and his country an apology for what you have done here.

The whole world doesn't really have to know everything about everybody all the time. Certainly this is a concept you understand.

you pile of pond shit, you could have put not only Harry in danger but the guys he was with. Your obviously devoid of common sense, respectability a right arrogant twerp. God save the Queen!!

It came to my attention sometime ago that The Drudge Report is slanted - yellow journalism - has an ax to grind. It is is worthless therefore, in my opinion, as a news source, so I do not visit the site anymore. Whether or not there is blame here (RE: Prince Harry), is irrelevant to me. I do not trust The Drudge Report.

"Typical scumbag Yank.
Pity al-Qaeda didn't kill more of 'em on 9/11"

BAZ, how could you say such a thing? As an American naval aviator, I depend on JTACs such as Prince Harry on every single mission I fly over Iraq and Afghanistan. Just because some idiot journalist published this story, you have decided their terrorism was justified?!? I think Harry would be ashamed of your comment, seeing as how he worked with Americans everyday in combat.

Is there such a thing as too much freedom? Drudge possibly dances the issue with the Prince Harry leak. What good could possibly come out of announcing this tour; What in the world is gained?
Another example:
The Bush regime, I believe has gone over the edge with their silent freedom of executive privileges. The two hardly differ albeit, different in categories, yet both possibly soundiing the death knell of the future of freedom.

God, you people are stupid....

Drudge, you need to get your life back. Ruining others just because you can't get it up for sex with anyone.

Harry has the personal right and public necessity to make something more of his life that perform the role of media doll. Publishing Harry's whereabouts with his military unit was uncontionable. The selfish objectives of Drudge created risk to Harry, his fellow soldiers, and British military objectives. I am never going to read this website again.

Wow, Prince Harry got revealed. Who really cares?

The soldiers are over there fighting an illegal war. Harry wants to be a part of an illegal war? Well so be it. I don't really care whether he's there or not. The point is you scumbags going on the defensive make it look as though he's some all important being who must not be allowed to die.

Attacks on British troops go on all the time; why on earth would the Taleban single him out? He's got no political presence, he's just a kid who belongs to a famous family. If he dies, it's not going to end the war, there won't be a huge backlash. It will just create a sense of misery for all the idiots in Britain who wanted to pretend they knew him - Princess Diana, anyone?

Who really cares about Prince "Wunderkind" Harry? I think there are far more pressing matters such as the situation in Gaza for you idiots to worry yourselves about. People die all the time, Harry isn't special!

If you think he is special then you have some severe mental problems.

Good on "Drudge" and all the others who did report it. Journalism and News are about presenting the facts. Not covering things up to protect people.

I have to agree with "A Sympathetic Brit." Well said!

Matt Drudge hides behind "The publics right to know". Reporting on Price Harry put him and fellow soldiers at risk. It doesnt matter whether he was part of the secrecy agreement with the British government or not. It was simply the wrong thing to do but the need for headlines and fame wins out over what is right. Matt Drudge is a smug sensationalist and I believe that if he had done what he did but had reported on the son of a famous or well known American political figure that he should have been arrested for treason. Tell me what is the difference between him and someone who leaks the secret location of the presidents son?

Easily the most entertaining thread ever on Workbench, I declare. Hilarious.

I also agree with "A Sympathetic Brit. Maybe not fully but agree :-)

They probably wanted this story broke as soon as possible to bring him back and also to have good PR for the wars!! Ask yourself this one questions do you really think he was at the front lines?

Drudge fans should check out drudgetracker.com

LOL - I am in stiches reading all this here.

"A Sympathetic Brit" is either an American or has been watching too many American tv programs. Britain still as some standards of behavior, the US does not.

The only true thing "A Symp. Brit" said is his Gaza statement. Israel has no historicity to justify its existence; the Old Testament was first written about 630BC and is thus as bogus as the Book of Mormon, IE, fictional political propaganda. EG -- "Israel" was an organized society of Palestinians, known as Canaanites in those days, in the north at a time when the people who later became the Hebrews were unorganized semi-nomadic hill tribesmen. Read "The Bible Unearthed" by the director of archeology at Tel Aviv University, Finkelstein, and his colleague, Silberman. There was no Abraham, no Isaac, no Exodus, no Moses, no David, no Solomon...... and the non-David and non-Solomon therefore built NOTHING! Israel has no locus to exist, and if the US were to stop supporting its economic colony at the same time insisting it complies with Security Council Resolutions as we so vociferously insist everyone but Israel has to...... it is amazing how much peace would break out.

In the mean time, so what if you aint Drudge himself; you yourself have written above you do not get why Drudge did wrong. It is not surprising: since you do not fundamentally know Right from Wrong you have no chance of understanding ethics let alone morality.

Hey, a Ron Paul supporter! Howdy, Maunga! Was the Holocaust faked, too?

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