US media out McCain’s soldier son

The 19-year-old son of the Republican presidential candidate John McCain has "done a Prince Harry". L/Cpl Jimmy McCain has been serving with the US Marines in Iraq and American newspapers, which had agreed with the McCain camp not to break the news, have spilled the beans. However, unlike Harry who was 'outed' while on active service, Jimmy's seven-month tour of duty was not unveiled until it was over. Nevertheless, the McCains are angry because the coverage is more likely to make their son, now back in the States, a target.

The Hill was the first publication to break the pact. The New York Times followed on Sunday with a feature about Jimmy's service, though the paper agreed to a request not to publish recent photos. "The McCain campaign objects strongly to this intrusion into the privacy of Senator McCain's son," the senator’s spokesman said. "The children of presidential candidates in this election cycle should be afforded the same respect for their privacy that the children of President Bush and President and Senator Clinton have been afforded."

Jimmy enlisted in the Marines two years ago. Because he was only 17, his mother Cindy McCain had to fill in consent forms. The Arizona senator attended a Thanksgiving dinner in Iraq last year but it was not reported that he was dining with his son and his unit. At the few campaign events that Jimmy attended last year, between tours of duty, he was not introduced. On Fox News recently, McCain deflected a question about his son by saying: "We have two sons in the military but we never talk about it, if that's all right. I am so proud of both of them."