# Solution to the Falkland Islands crisis
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solution-to-the-falkland-islands-crisis/962901
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [April 16, 2022, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solution-to-the-falkland-islands-crisis/962901 "2022-04-16T00:33:52Z")
**Posts on this page:** 16
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2022, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solution-to-the-falkland-islands-crisis/962901/21 "2022-04-17T04:56:13Z")
I remember a news item about how the heads of the military branches in the Junta had a screaming match, with the top admiral saying “you can’t ell me what to do…” after Galtieri told him to keep the main battleship in port. The admiral was convinced it was a plot by the Army and Air Force to take all the glory.
He sent the ship out.
It got sunk.
I recall discussions at the time that this was the distinction between top tier military hardware (USA, Britain, France, etc.) and lesser powers, further illustrated later in the Gulf war. The arms race was less about matching the USSR and probably more about making sure the western powers in terms of military capability stayed ahead of places like Argentina, Chile, Brazil, India, Pakistan, South Africa, Libya, Iraq and Iran, etc. … just in case.
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### Author:  [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2022, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solution-to-the-falkland-islands-crisis/962901/22 "2022-04-17T07:44:56Z")
> [@TriPolar](#):
>
> That is absolutely all that it is, a proposal.
Indeed. But why would an official in an _intelligence_ agency be writing (even as a thought experiment) a foreign _policy_ proposal (particularly one which any foreign policy official could have seen to be unworkable)?
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### Author:  [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2022, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solution-to-the-falkland-islands-crisis/962901/23 "2022-04-17T08:02:22Z")
American Intelligence (as in Agency, not the general population) is an oft-quoted oxymoron here
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### Author:  [@cannonkuo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cannonkuo)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2022, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solution-to-the-falkland-islands-crisis/962901/24 "2022-04-17T09:59:16Z")
You don’t say!
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### Author:  [@Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_was_in_Saudi)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2022, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solution-to-the-falkland-islands-crisis/962901/25 "2022-04-17T10:14:51Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#):
>
> It seems pretty implausible that a credible intelligence estimate would assess that the United Kingdom would lose the Falkland Islands to Argentina.
Well of course the British did lose the islands to the Argentines. They lost them in less than a day.
The issue the CIA was noodling over was how it would all sort itself out. Retaking the islands depended on a lot of variables. One of them was the military practicalities. The British forces were adequate (as history shows), but the Falklands are a rather far way away. The bigger issue would be the size of Margret Thatcher’s balls. To judge them you would have to get inside her head.
So the idea that the British would have ceded the islands is not totally outlandish. The outcome we saw was not certain. It could have gone either way.
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### Author:  [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2022, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solution-to-the-falkland-islands-crisis/962901/26 "2022-04-17T10:38:23Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#):
>
> Did he? I honestly can’t find a lot that Reagan had to say about it other than a dismissive comment about fighting over some ice-covered rocks (or words to that effect; I can’t find the specific context in a quick search).
[“…we must remember that the aggression was on the part of Argentina in this dispute over the sovereignty of that little ice-cold bunch of land down there, and they finally just resorted to armed aggression, and there was bloodshed. And I think the principle that all of us must abide by is, armed aggression of that kind must not be allowed to succeed.”](https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/114274)
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### Author:  [@cannonkuo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cannonkuo)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2022, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solution-to-the-falkland-islands-crisis/962901/27 "2022-04-17T11:51:00Z")
You’ve got a point there.
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2022, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solution-to-the-falkland-islands-crisis/962901/28 "2022-04-17T16:42:24Z")
Because you have to generate a lot of such proposals to justify the cost of hiring analysts who produce those proposals. I’m not joking about that.
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### Author:  [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2022, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solution-to-the-falkland-islands-crisis/962901/29 "2022-04-17T16:53:50Z")
I agree. I mean didn’t I read somewhere where we have invasion plans for Canada, and plans if Canada invades us? I suppose an argument can be made that we need to plan for every contingency because being caught unprepared could mean millions of deaths and/or the end of our nation, and an equal argument could be made that there are too many bureaucrats in the military pissing around wasting time on stuff like this. But either way, it doesn’t surprise me at all that someone in the government was working on a potential solution to the Falklands issue wrt the UK and Argentina prior to the war.
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2022, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solution-to-the-falkland-islands-crisis/962901/30 "2022-04-19T16:03:32Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#):
>
> > [@carnivorousplant](#):
> >
> > Hell, Reagan wanted to give Thatcher an aircraft carrier group.
>
> Did he? I honestly can’t find a lot that Reagan had to say about it other than a dismissive comment about fighting over some ice-covered rocks…
Not an entire carrier group, but one (small) carrier, if necessary: [USS Iwo Jima (LPH-2) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Iwo_Jima_(LPH-2)#Potential_role_in_the_Falklands_War)
These earlier threads may also be of interest:
> [@What's the Deal with the Falkland Islands?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-the-falkland-islands/610629):
>
> I have been chatting with an online friend from Argentina and he indicates that there is still a lot of sentiment that the Falkland Islands should be theirs. He seems to feel that the government is still asserting its claim and he suggests that if things continue, the next president might be hawkish on the matter. I know basically nothing more than what Wikipedia tells me here. Is another conflict likely, now that a viable source of oil seems to have been found? If it is possible, would other c…
> [@Recommend books on the Falklands War](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-books-on-the-falklands-war/604297):
>
> I just saw a rivetting documentary about the HMS Coventry in The Falklands War. I realised watching it that it’s a conflict I know very little about and would be interested to read a book about. Can anyone here recommend a book on the war? A general history of the conflict would be good but feel free to recommend biographies etc. related to the conflict.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2022, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solution-to-the-falkland-islands-crisis/962901/31 "2022-04-19T17:07:19Z")
I recall “a carrier” being offered, but I didn’t know the navy would let one out on it’s own.
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### Author:  [@cannonkuo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cannonkuo)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2022, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solution-to-the-falkland-islands-crisis/962901/32 "2022-04-20T01:47:07Z")
Check the following websites:
> **[Historical Documents - Office of the Historian](https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1981-88v13)**
>
> history.state.gov 3.0 shell
[https://www.margaretthatcher.org/search?w=Falklands%20War&searchtype=and&t=0&starty=&startm=&startd=&endy=&endm=&endd=&onedayy=&onedaym=&onedayd=](https://www.margaretthatcher.org/search?w=Falklands%20War&searchtype=and&t=0&starty=&startm=&startd=&endy=&endm=&endd=&onedayy=&onedaym=&onedayd=)
and a book titled: [
### The Official History of the Falklands Campaign
]([https://www.routledge.com/The-Official-History-of-the-Falklands-Campaign-Volume-1-The-Origins-of/Freedman/p/book/9780415419123](https://www.routledge.com/The-Official-History-of-the-Falklands-Campaign-Volume-1-The-Origins-of/Freedman/p/book/9780415419123))
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### Author:  [@filmstar-en](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmstar-en)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2022, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solution-to-the-falkland-islands-crisis/962901/33 "2022-04-20T11:37:59Z")
This discusses the extent of US support for the UK during the Falklands conflict and the consequences. It was extensive and useful lessons were learnt that were applied to upgrading naval capability during the Cold War.
> **[Reflections on the Special Relationship](https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2012/september/reflections-special-relationship)**
>
> When Britain went to war over the Falklands, bonds forged by two world wars and three centuries of shared history led the United States to lend a hand.
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### Author:  [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2022, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solution-to-the-falkland-islands-crisis/962901/34 "2022-04-20T16:06:54Z")
If there’s an embassy or consulate somewhere, there’s an “invasion” plan. More of a rescue of non-combatants; state department personnel, US aid agency folks, US citizens there for contract reason, tourists. The NEO [non-combatant evacuation operations] plans cover permissive, neutral, and “fight your way through the bastards” scenarios. Many of these friendly plans (Canada for example) only get a review when a “mandatory date” comes up.
Back in the late 90s, things were going south in one of the Congolese nations. We, SETAF, sent down a planning and administrative crew to the other Congolese nation to prepare for possible action. Turns out that the uprisings were reversed; the staff unhorsed to the other country and NEO plans were put into action in the once “friendly” environment.
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### Author:  [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2022, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solution-to-the-falkland-islands-crisis/962901/35 "2022-04-21T09:35:27Z")
> [@cannonkuo](#):
>
> Secret CIA documents show the US had plans to either give the Falkland Islands to Argentina and repatriate the islanders to Scotland
This is the bit I find hilarious. It’s a little akin to the USA giving up Puerto Rico and the British (or any other foreign power) deciding the residents should be repatriated to Wyoming. Not just mainland USA, but a specific bit of it.
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### Author:  [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2022, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solution-to-the-falkland-islands-crisis/962901/36 "2022-04-25T10:54:04Z")
> [@SanVito](#):
>
> It’s a little akin to the USA giving up Puerto Rico and the British (or any other foreign power) deciding the residents should be repatriated to Wyoming. Not just mainland USA, but a specific bit of it.
Ok, but they were used to being very cold, so they decided they were acclimitised to Scotland.
Of course they would be UK citizens and could go anywhere UK.
It was just a quick question and answer prepared for the USA plan… which was "nah, its lump of rock down near Argentina, we aren’t fighting South Americans for that … the residents can go to Scotland, they won’t notice the difference ! " USA was busy selling lots of weapons and only Chile was telling Argentina not do do it. An enemy of your enemy is your friend, right ?
Meanwhile the pope had stopped Argentina militarily resolving a border dispute with another catholic country, but hey, UK is anglican, its fair game - crusade it today !
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