Falklands War 25th anniversary; Frank Reynolds; John Chancellor; Elizabeth Drew

25 years ago today - British soldiers taken captive



Today is the 25th anniversary of the start of the Falkland Islands war between Britain and Argentina. I won't try to repeat the entire story. Suffice it to say that Argentina seized some British Islands in the South Atlantic on April 2, 1982. The British took them back after a three month war.

The war began when Argentina seized South Georgia Island on April 2nd and later seized the main Falkland islands 750 miles away.

South Georgia Island H/T antarcticlife.com

The war is notable for several things.

(1) As we already have established, the MSM/DNC is wrong about almost everything. This war proved to be no exception. On the night of the invasion, the teleprompter of ABC's anchor Frank Reynolds opened the nightly news broadcast with the following:

"It would appear the sun has set on yet another corner of the British Empire."

[My source is my own tape recording from the news the night of the invasion.] Reynolds' teleprompter did not anticipate that the British would fight back and retake the islands. ABC was apparently too eager for a western power and U.S. ally to lose territory. Weeks later, Elizabeth Drew would appear on "Agronsky and Company" and insist that even if Britain retook the islands by force, Britain "can't sustain it." I hope you didn't hold your breath waiting for Drew to apologize when it became apparent that the invasion was, in fact, sustainable. [If you don't recognize the names Elizabeth Drew or Agronsky, don't worry about it. You didn't miss much.] MSM/DNC is frequently guided by wishful thinking and is deluded by its own ability to issue self-fulfilling prophecies [like polls].

(2) The MSM/DNC will oppose Republican policy no matter what.

The U.S. remained officially neutral during the war. President Reagan didn't lie/no kids died. Halliburton made no profit. There was no quagmire. No one mentioned Vietnam. We didn't need a timetable in which to "redeploy" our troops to Okinawa. We didn't lose standing in the world due to warmongering "go-it-alone" cowboy policies.

Was this neutrality good enough for the MSM/DNC? No. Did Reagan get credit for keeping the U.S. at peace? No. John Chancellor's teleprompter denounced the administration for not siding with its ally, Great Britain. Even though Britain was more than capable of handling this war on its own, Chancellor's teleprompter would be satisfied with no less than all out war by the U.S. against Argentina. [MSM/DNC commentators are happy to support war so long as the enemy (e.g. Argentina) poses no real threat to the U.S.]

(3) Appeasement provokes aggression. Here is one headline I am afraid we will not see as a result of Iran capturing 15 British sailors last week. This difference between the two incidents is that today England and much of the west places its faith in international institutions, like the UN and EU. These institutions will not recover the sailors or prevent aggression from rogue states. See Mark Steyn's commentary for more on this point.

[For those who cannot conceive of a military response to Iran, see this.

There were many who doubted the potential for success of a military resolution back in 1982, but the doubters were wrong. They did not anticipate the following:

D-Day - British invasion









H/T latinamericanstudies.org.

June 17, 1982 - Argentine POWs returning home






We can either learn the lessons of the Falklands war and act accordingly today, or we can treat the 1982 war as just another historical event, forget about it and allow the danger from Iran to grow.
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update - 9:30 AM 4-2-07 Michelle Malkin posts her thoughts, including this quote from Diana West:

When a civilization no longer inculcates an overriding attachment to its own survival, well, it no longer survives as a civilization. In peacetime, the disintegration appears more theoretical. In wartime, the holes really begin to show.