What caused the Falklands War

[Whickerman]

Can this be true? Was the entire conflict started because fo scrap metal?

http://news.bbc.co.uk...espondent/8599404.stm

[AlBags]

Apparently so .. or so the Argentinian guys who were there stated. After all this time, tho .. it's still possible that this is/was a cover, and they won't admit it. They also denied singing their anthem and raising their flag. If this is on film, then it musy have been a cover, surely. Would a group of guys recovering/nicking scrap erect a flag?
Radio 4 today.

[123everton]

Raising a flag is not an incitement to war, nor is sending marines etc a reasonable response to rescue them.
In all honesty, if I were an Argentinian back then, I'd be more afraid of being "liberated" by the Argentine military than be arrested by ours.

[carmalee]

no

[jno]

I remember a friend telling me about the scrap metal merchants (I think there later proved to be some marines among them) and adding: 'This is going to mean war, you know.'

I thought she was nuts.

[jno]

more than that, the Foreign Office had just been making noises about softening the UK line and working out some sort of leaseback arrangement for the islands, and HMS Endurance, the Antarctic patrol vessel, had been withdrawn. The Argentines took this as a hint that Britain wouldn't bother to defend the islands

As to what Britain was in fact hinting, I have no idea - just the left hand not knowing what the right hand was doing, I suspect.

[chakka35]

Steve.5, the Falklands have never belonged to Argentina. Therefore there is no more reason for us to 'give them back' to them than there is to give them to Sweden or Canada.

[dragongiraffe]

Thatcher the milk snatcher & the Argentinians "fondness" of sheep!!!

[dustypuss]

To be politically correct the Falklands war was never a war as war was never declared on Argentina . It should be referred to as the Falklands conflict .

[jno]

it was a war whether Thatcher wanted to declare it or not - don't be fooled by spin doctors.

[mike11111]

Dustypuss - to follow your own logic there was never a war in Iraq or Afghanistan, merely 'conflicts'. Must be a great consolation to the breaved on all sides.

[jno]

there's a war on terror, though, mike. It's okay to declare war on abstract nouns, just not on countries.

[mike11111]

Couldn't have put it better myself!

[jake-the-peg]

Margaret Thatcher was worried about a mass influx of Chinese when Hong Kong went back to the Chinese.

She revoked their right to live in Britain in the 1981 Nationality act - this included others Like the Falklanders. This, along with the scaling back of forces in the 1981 defence review gave the Junta the belief that we'd not defend the Falklands. They needed a patriotic victory to quell unrest at home.

They failed to recognise that this would put Margaret Thatchers political future on the line and that she'd be forced to defend them or resign.

I simply don't buy the "scap metal" story of the invasion there are too many political drivers coming together to place "cock-up" over conspiracy

[chakka35]

Well now, naive old me! I thought it was a simple case of rescuing 1800 fellow Britons from the clutches of a murderous and corrupt dictator.

[Justincider]

It was Scottish football fans that started it.

[New Judge]

Whatever the causes of the 1982 conflict, Argentina had never formally and properly occupied the Falkland Islands and had no legitimate claim to sovereignty.Despite being so close to the South American mainland the islands were uninhabited when they were discovered by European explorers. Various European nations (notably Spain, France and Britain) claimed sovereignty over them at various times during the 18th and 19th centuries.

Whatever their history, there is no doubt that in 1982 the population was almost exclusively of British descent and had been so for about 150 years, and they wanted the islands to remain a British sovereign territory.

The “scrap metal” merchant’s tale has some foundation. In the subsequent enquiry into the conflict it was established that he had indeed been in negotiations to dismantle the whaling station. However, the enquiry also left little doubt that Argentina – fresh from a military coup – had advanced plans to take the islands by force if talks on sovereignty did not go their way.

On 2nd March ’82 the Argentinean Foreign Minister rejected a conciliatory agreement drawn up by his deputy and the British Foreign Office saying that Argentina would resort to “other means” if Britain refused to cede sovereignty. Matters then deteriorated rapidly and by the end of March Argentina had established a large military presence around the islands. Full invasion took place on 2nd April.

I followed the events closely in 1982 and there is no doubt in my mind that Argentina took advantage of a perceived weakness in Britain’s position regarding the islands. It is often said that the British government ignored the deteriorating situation deliberately to escalate the conflict and give Mrs Thatcher a boost in the polls. Even if that were true (and I do not believe that it was) Mrs Thatcher did not provoke the invasion – and nor did Mr Davidoff.

[R1Geezer]

Military Junta in pickle, country collapsing financially, revolution likely. Junta attacks undefended Island hoping to boost popularity. Junta Gets ar5se kicked, the end. . Any questions?