I have on the shelves Max "I counted them all out and I counted them all back" Hastings' "The Battle For The Falklands" as well as "The Sinking of the Belgrano" by two other journalists whose names I fail to recall . The Belgrano book seems to me to imply on the flimsiest evidence that the peace-loving Argentinian cruiser, sailing outside the "exclusion zone", away from the Falklands and no threat to the British Task Force, was sunk in order to torpedo any prospect of a negotiated settlement. This certainly has been the view of the left for the last 25 years.
I noticed the other day that the Belgrano's captain, perhaps understandably, disagreed with this view. Sam Tarran noticed too. Let's hope his drama teacher reads it.
UPDATE - It wasn't Mad Max counting them in and out. Twas the BBC's Brian Hanrahan.
Friday, June 22, 2007
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7 comments:
It always struck me astonishing that this accusation ever stood up.
So the ship was steaming away from the exclusion zone at that particular moment.
Are they suggesting it was incapable of turning round, or what?
Very odd.
Never made a lick of sense to me either. The Total Exclusion Zone was clearly meant in the context of blockade i.e. it meant that unarmed, and even civilian, craft attempting to resupply the occupying forces were liable to attack. No special legal measures were required to engage warships. Once you're talking about vessels with guns and missiles strapped to the hull, belligerency is kind of assumed.
Anyway, wasn't it Brian Hanrahan (thereby marking it the last patriotic statement from anyone at the BBC) ?
DJ
Judge considers punching someone hard in the face to be "anti-social behaviour":
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/6230550.stm
"This is a very sad case where anti-social behaviour turned to tragedy, where happy slapping turned to manslaughter."
I don't think he understands what "anti-social behaviour means.
Hate to say it Laban, but the mister "counting them out" in question wasn't Hastings. It was some unforgettable name in the BBC news hit squad. Hasting was probably already turning his attention to his subsequent book on how we only just managed D.Day+; and weren't the German tanks (and contents) wonderful.
The only reason this fatuous episode still gets any traction was Mrs Thatcher's unbelievable failure to tell that stupid woman on the TV equivalent to a phone-in the facts of military life. I can only think that Mrs T had other things on her mind or had been advised not to show up the woman for the useful idiot that she evidently was. Anyway, we can certainly rely on the BBC to keep showing the clip regularly: and every 5 minutes on the day (a long time in the future I hope) when Mrs T passes away.
Blimey, you're right. Twas Brian Hanrahan.
Up until that point, there had been no loss of life, and there was the very good chance of a US/UN brokered deal that would have brought an end to hostilities without bloodshed. That would not have saved the UK government's face however, and quick victory in a small shooting war would not only cover up the debacle of allowing the islands to be captured in the first place, but divert attention from the government's seriously unpopular policies at home. In that, the Belgrano was a windfall for the Tories as well as a legitimate military target.
Unfortunately, the Argentines made more of fight of it than expected and a lot of my fellow servicemen died - needlessly - in one of the most bungled operations since the Crimea. Maggie had her victory and the myth of Britain as a serious global power continued for a few more years.
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