Re: Belgrano *was* fair game...

On 27/12/2011 19:19, The Todal wrote:
Jethro wrote:
On Mon, 26 Dec 2011 18:51:54 +0000, Ret. wrote:

The warship *was* inside the exclusion zone, and was *not* returning
to port as the Junta claimed at the time...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2078749/Belgrano-fair-target-
headed-Falklands-exclusion-zone-NOT-port-according-secret-dossier.html

To this day, it mystifies me why people have made such a song and
dance about the Belgrano.

As a 15 year old, at the time of the conflict (was war ever formally
declared), it seemed pretty obvious to me that Argentina was now "the
enemy". And every action she undertook had to be assessed in the
light of the fact that the UK was pledged to protect the civilian
population of the Falklands, as well as any armed forces tasked with
defending them too.

If that meant sinking an enemy ship, irrespective of "zones" then so
be it.

Given that we have no idea what intelligence was put before the
cabinet of the day, we can only speculate as to the nature of any
threat the Belgrano posed. Clearly the cabinet felt there *was* a
threat, and acted accordingly. It is a tragedy that so many sailors
died in the sinking - but at the end of the day that's what a navy is
there for.

One thing we can be sure of - the British cabinet never makes good decisions
as it is never adequately briefed. Which is why we invaded Iraq.


That was rather different. British interests were not at stake and the information was based on a tissue of lies. The then Prime Minister was totally out of his depth when dealing with the likes of Bush who had already made up his mind to go to war but needed a bit of nudging as to who to go to war with.


If only we put as much effort into remembering the terrible losses of
Sheffield and Galahad, as we do into trying to dig over the Belgrano.

It's a shame that the singular lesson of the sinking of the Belgrano
was lost on successive administrations. War is hell.

Er, many commentators say that the sinking of the Belgrano (causing nearly
half of all the Argentinian deaths during the Falklands War) was the
incentive that caused the Argies to mount a revenge attack on HMS Sheffield.

You are suggesting that had the Belgrano not been sunk then the Argentinians would NOT have sunk HMS Sheffield? They had already made several probes with Exocet carrying Etendard fighter aircraft and, had a suitable target been available, and had there been no defensive fighters in range they WOULD have used them.

The lesson is that the more enemies we kill, the more of our own troops will
be killed. With better statesmanship and diplomacy many lives could have
been saved.

If your idea of "diplomacy" includes an invasion such as that carried out by Argentina, then may the gods help us all.


The Falkland Islands are now rather less secure than they have
ever been, since we could no longer send a Task Force to look after them.
It's just a question of whether the Argies want to take them from us.




--
Moving things in still pictures


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Relevant Pages

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