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Dixie -> RE: The Falklands Conflict (8/6/2007 9:04:29 AM)
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ORIGINAL: Ike99
Well you also have this little thing about the Malvinas are 13,000 kilometers from Britian too but still self proclaimed ¨theirs¨ by 2,000 sheep herders.
I wonder what British attitudes will be if we go up to the Sheffield Islands, drop a couple thousand Gouchos with some cows on one and claim it, then we offer a trade? [:D]
They could try dropping troops at the Sheffield Islands, but there's no such place within the UK....
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The point is easy to see...it's a geographic absurdidty. Before the war I'm guessing 90% of the British populace didn`t know where the Malvinas were much less ¨theirs¨ Maybe they still don´t. I did see a documentary and at first news of the war most of them thought the Malvinas were an island off Scottland! [&:]
During the war there was a song on the radio that summed it up by Raul Porchetto about a British soldier saying...
¨Estoy en este lugar, tan lejos de casa, que ni el nombre recuerdo...¨-I´m in this place very far from my home and can´t even remember the places name.
Yes, the islands are far from Britain, but the UK has never at any point given up their territorial claim to the area and invading the Falklands would have been the same as invading the Isle of Wight, they are both British territories under international law.
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But JudgeDredd says this thread is about the conflict itself not the islands soverignty so... It's been said here how the Junta timed the event because the domestic population wanted democracy and it was a ¨wag the dog¨ thing. I agree with that.
But my British mates have not mentioned Mrs.Thatchers own little wag the dog war crime of sinking the Belgrano outside of the publicly stated and agreed upon exclusion zones to get a quick victory, bring up the low war support at home and help her own political future.[;)]
The sinking of the Belgrano was not a war crime, the Captain of the ship stated so himself.
"We were heading towards the mainland but not going to the mainland; we were going to a position to await further orders" (Belgrano's Captain)
There had also been an announcement on the 23rd April that the exclusion zone was not the limit of British action. Passed to the Argentine government vis the Swiss Embassy in Buenos Aires:
In announcing the establishment of a Maritime Exclusion Zone around the Falkland Islands, Her Majesty's Government made it clear that this measure was without prejudice to the right of the United Kingdom to take whatever additional measures may be needed in the exercise of its right of self-defence under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter. In this connection Her Majesty's Government now wishes to make clear that any approach on the part of Argentine warships, including submarines, naval auxiliaries or military aircraft, which could amount to a threat to interfere with the mission of British Forces in the South Atlantic will encounter the appropriate response. All Argentine aircraft, including civil aircraft engaged in surveillance of these British forces, will be regarded as hostile and are liable to be dealt with accordingly
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edit-Hi Larry, I've never heard anyone saying the British soldiers mistreated them as a prisoner. I've never heard a British person saying they were mistreated by Argentine soldier.
About the islanders, 3 were killed during the war by British friendly fire accidents. So it was very clean except for the Belgrano sinking. Who knows, maybe one day even they too will recognize the Malvinas as a ¨wrong¨ from their colonial past and return them. If they do as a bonus they should give Northern Ireland back to the Irish too. [;)]
Again, I have not heard from any prisoners from either side claiming mistreatment.
Honestly I cannot see the Falkland Islanders themselves, and by extension the UK government, deciding they want to be part of Argentina.
There were no war crimes as such from either side, no killing of prisoners or civilians, no use of chemical weapons etc.
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