“I just say it was the worst, I think, moment of my life”
Less than two weeks after the Argentinian invasion on 2 April 1982, Thatcher described a “diplomatic solution” as being “a considerable prize”. She was responding specifically to a plan whereby in return for withdrawing its troops Argentina would be represented on an interim commission and on Falkland Islands councils.
Francis Pym, the foreign secretary, is recorded as saying: “It would be a remarkable achievement if this could be brought about, at a time when Britain’s military position was still weak.”
Asked in private evidence to the subsequent Franks committee of inquiry about her reaction to the invasion, Thatcher said: “I just say it was the worst, I think, moment of my life,” the papers reveal. Asked if she was prepared to cede sovereignty over the islands if the islanders agreed, she replied: “Yes”.
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Asked if she was prepared to cede sovereignty over the islands if the islanders agreed, she replied: “Yes”.
Doesn’t mean that much, does it, kinda of like saying, “If the Poles don’t object to the German Invasion, we won’t declare war in 1939.”
The Islanders were NEVER going to agree to the ceding of the territory.
JFKY on December 28, 2012 at 9:43 AM
The aftermath of the invasion and the war were great periods for Thatcher. But she and previous governments really dropped the ball on the Falklands, and her Minister of Defense (Pre-Falklands), Nott, was a knucklehead. And it was Thatcher’s economic policies and decision to buy Trident that drove Nott, towards being such a knucklehead.
JFKY on December 28, 2012 at 9:46 AM
And thank goodness they decided to go with Trident.
Having said that, the UK is pretty well done for as any sort of a military threat outside of it’s nuclear forces. Years and years of morons running Parliament, allowing Muzzies to immigrate and live off the dole and trying to be the benchmark of nanny-statism has left it unable to provide for her own common defense.
Pretty much what Obama and his fellow travelers are trying to do to these United States.
TKindred on December 28, 2012 at 9:59 AM
And we provide Europe’s defense, freeing them to spend so lavishly on their social programs.
What happens when we are no longer equipped to defend ourselves and Europe?
I guess people on the left just don’t bother thinking about stuff like that.
Washington Nearsider on December 28, 2012 at 10:21 AM
And thank goodness they decided to go with Trident.
The problem wasn’t so much Trident, as how it was paid for…It came out of the RN’s “hide”…and in order to pay for Trident, a NATIONAL System, the RN was going to have to sell HMS Hermes and Invincible, HMS Intrepid and Fearless, and disband 3 Commando Brigade to pay for it.
Had Argentina waited about 6 months, there’d have been d@mned little Britain could have done about it.
JFKY on December 28, 2012 at 12:16 PM