Falklands attack surprised Thatcher

[Herr-Berbunch]

Originally Posted by eddie

I wouldn't be able to get an sleep after giving the task force that order.

She wasn't one for much sleep anyway, although she really did get more than was made out. I believe that this did cause less sleep than normal though, and rightly so as disaster was only a stroke of luck (or not) away on several occasions.

She held firm, and won the game. Failed for Bliar though.

As for her not being aware really until two days before - the Falklands was a negligible asset to the former Empire, Argentina's postulating their sovereign rights didn't figure greatly in the grand scheme of the world prior to that. After '98 (that I know of), bin Laden used to appear on regular Int Reps. Deployments overseas received an Int brief prior, and he was always mentioned for embassy bombings and later USS Cole but never figured to us a greater threat than European terrorists, mainly the IRA, Red Army Faction, ETA, et al. In 2001 I was in Oman, we watched the news and the first thing one guy said was, 'it's that guy from the Int Brief, Oss-wotsisname'. Two days before - he didn't figure, and nor had Argentina.