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| Britain | |
| Argentina Demands Apology From Britain | |
| 2003-12-08 | |
| Argentina’s president said Britain should apologize for deploying nuclear-armed ships during the 1982 Falklands War, but London on Sunday refused, saying it had done nothing wrong. "So sod off!" Britain’s Ministry of Defense has said that some of its naval ships carried nuclear weapons during the war but that they never entered Latin American waters and Britain did not consider using them.
``We don’t believe we have anything to apologize for,’’ Britain’s Ministry of Defense said Sunday, in response to Kirchner’s call. ``There was no question of us using the weapons. There is no radiation hazard as a consequence of their deployment. We maintained our obligations under the relevant treaties.’’ Small chance that the Argie air force -- pretty decent then -- could have hit a nuclear-armed Brit ship. Prime Minister Tony Blair’s office refused to comment on the matter, referring calls to the Ministry of Defense. Britain said Friday that some ships carried nuclear depth charges, used for destroying submarines, but that they were transferred from ship to ship so they did not enter Latin American waters during the 78-day conflict with Argentina. ``A decision was taken before the conflict that the weapons would not be used,’’ the ministry said Sunday. ``However, it was decided that to delay the task force by some 36 hours in order to offload the weapons in the U.K. was unacceptable. ``Instead the decision was made to offload the weapons at sea at the earliest opportunity that was safe to do so.’’ Sounds a little weak -- how long to transfer at sea, and careful with the butterfingers. Argentine troops invaded the islands - known to Argentines as Las Malvinas - on April 2, 1982. Argentina claimed it had inherited the archipelago from the Spanish crown before they were occupied by Britain in 1833. In all, more than 700 Argentines and 255 British soldiers perished before Britain reclaimed the islands, populated by 2,220 people of mostly British ancestry. Argentina still maintains its claim to the archipelago but has pledged never to invade again. Until the next government is about to go down the tubes and needs to distract the people. | |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #3 A lot of Argentines still think they sunk a British carrier and think its been a big conspiracy to hide that fact. They hit the Atlantic Courier which was shuttling planes but it was certainly not a carrier. The pilot that hit it claimed it was and was a hero in a nation that desperately needed heroes after such a foolish conflict. I call the conflict foolish because the Argentines could have won if they'd waited until wintertime down in the South Atlantic when at least one British carrier would have been decommissioned and the others would not have been able to do launch operations in the notoriously violent south atlantic during winter. The Argentines would have had months to move the British off of the island, move the Britts off and won without firing a shot. |
| Posted by: ruprecht 2003-12-8 8:40:27 PM |
| #2 The Argentines have never accepted that they lost the war. To do so would further expose the generals involved, who were already neck deep in the other scandals of the time. The cultural attitude is similar to the Japanese, where the war is glossed over and devoutly ignored. |
| Posted by: Chuck Simmins 2003-12-8 8:48:55 AM |
| #1 What?? they want an apology from Britain for NOT using nukes on them ya say? Hehehe |
| Posted by: Val 2003-12-8 8:43:31 AM |