Quote:
Originally Posted by Wreford-Brown
The UK sent the wrong message:
When an Argentine nationalist landed on the FI in 1967 and tried to 'capture' the islands he was arrested but returned to Argentina. This led to the perception that the UK government considered the FI an Argentine matter and had little interest in its affairs.
In 1976 Argentina occupied South Thule and we didn't react. The next year, Argentina threatened to occupy FI, UK said nothing publically but sent a small task force and the threat disappeared.
We had removed HMS Endurance (an ice patrol ship) and announced that it was to be decommissioned.
We were due to close our British Antarctic Survey base at South Georgia.
The Islanders had been denied UK citizenship.
The UK government had offered to lease FI to Argentina for 99 years (although the offer was rescinded in 1981).
Taken individually, over the course of 15 years, none of these issues had raised an alarm but when put together they sent a relatively clear message that led Argentina to believe that the UK wasn't interested in FI.
In 1982 the only way to reinforce FI was to ship down, which was a long and arduous journey. Things are slightly different now, with UK keeping its best RAF fighters in FI and maintaining a large enough ground force to keep the airfields open for the two brigades we keep at readiness. FI is firmly kept on the radar.
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Two brigades-ten thousandish personnel eh? 10% of our total strength
I remember the points above but that leaves me wondering if Maggie was aware of the risks and the move by the Argentinians was predicted/hoped for because the situation certainly saved her political bacon.
I doubt if we'll ever know the truth.