Posted on 01/20/2017 5:49:42 AM PST by markomalley
The US came very close to stepping in to help Argentina take the islands after they invaded in 1982.
US security bosses were ready to offer Falkland Islanders the option of moving to British territory, with Scotland being touted as a potential new home, or being allowed to stay on the Islands.
However, if they opted to stay they would automatically become Argentinian citizens.
The option of moving abroad would have been sweetened with the promise of a $100,000 grant per person.
The proposed plan, entitled ‘Solution to the Falkland Islands crisis’, was put together by Henry Rowen, the then chairman of the National Intelligence Council.
(Excerpt) Read more at express.co.uk ...
Fortunately, Reagan apparently vetoed this plan.
Sounding more and more like the hatred of the CIA has been justified.
Time to clean more than one swamp.
More jimmy carter mess.. this ME chaosis a direct result of his shah problem. Decades later, we are still paying in blood and money for carter. Well not his blood and not his money.
That’s odd...I had always understood that Reagan had offered to assist the British in taking the islands back.
so, why would WE be on the hook for paying British citizens to move back to the UK?
Yep. However the Shah was stabbed in the back already before Carter, during the Ford admin. Chiefly responsible was that twerp William Simon, who was a Saudi shill.
From the 1930s through the present, the received wisdom is that Communism is stronger, better, more efficient, and will win out in the long run.
The advisors to the President (and in some cases the President himself) all believed in the domino theory, and acted accordingly. This belief led to countless American casualties.
In hindsight, the correct response to Korea and Vietnam should have been "you want to be Communist, hey, knock yourself out, we'll still be here to help you rebuild when you get tired of starving."
ANY competent military or security organization has plans for multiple solutions to most of the hypothetical problems which may occur in their area of responsibility.
It is not nice to be surprised and have no idea how to deal with the situation.
Much ado about nothing. Somebody somewhere in the USG writes up a contingency plan that’s never acted upon. Happens all the time, sorta like the old contingency plan for invading Canada.
Well that worked out well for the Saudis. A virulent Shiite theocracy.
>> I had always understood that Reagan had offered to assist the British in taking the islands back <
Apparently there was a lot of disagreement among the highest USG officials. Most notably, the late Jeanne Kirkpatrick and Alexander Haig were reputed to have been strongly pro-Argentinian and anti-British during the crisis. But Reagan eventually swung decisively behind Thatcher.
It did work out well for them so far.
With the Shah gone, the Saudis became the US partner No. 1 in the Islamic world. Saudi influence since 1976 has been metastizing in the entire Western world.
And with the Revolutionary Shia regime in Iran the Saudis had ab easy pretext to push the US into isolating and keeping down Iran as a rival to the Saudis. In the same vein they had Saddam drag Iraq and Iran into a decade of war, which again chiefly benefitted the Saudis.
Now since 2003 Iran more and more emerges again as a regional power and seriously causes worry for the Saudis.
Iran has the potential (if unleashed under proper leadership) to be the Mid-East power #1. The Saudis will always remain a desert sh*thole with shiny toys.
We DID help them..
That’s right - the first time I warmed to the US (long, long ago now) was when I heard about Caspar Weinberger offering the use of an American aircraft carrier.
This ‘reveal’ doesn’t say anything except that “competent government agencies prepare for contingencies”, which is not a shock to anyone.
And the usual rule is that you have five. You want the middle one and the two on the ends are too silly to contemplate. This was on the silly end. The other end probably involved the US bombing Buenos Aires leaving three reasonable plans in the middle.
HRC said something to Argentina when she first became SoS- It’s about time we revisited that issue, or something like that. I thought at the time she was trying to re-open the conflict.
I know this isn't what you were asking, but please be aware that those British citizens were already living in the UK.
Specifically, they were living in the Falklands, which is part of the UK.
Actually, it isn't - and never has been.
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is quite precisely defined - and only includes the three nations (England, Scotland, and Wales) on the island of Great Britain, the northern part of the island of Ireland, and some (but not all) islands in the immediate vicinity of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Certain other lands in various locations around the world are considered British territory, but they are not part of the United Kingdom. In 1982, the Falkland Islands were a British Dependent Territory and its residents were British Dependent Territory citizens without necessarily being British citizens (it was possible to be both but a BDT citizen was not automatically a British citizen).
All Falkland Islanders did become full British citizens in 1983, when the British government passed an Act that specifically gave them that status and in 2002, a general act was passed in Britain that gave all British Overseas Territory citizens, full British citizenship) but in 1982, a Falklander Islander might not be a British citizen, and the Falklands have never been incorporated into the UK.
There are a lot of differences between being part of the United Kingdom and being a BDT (the Falklands are now a British Overseas Territory) but as one example, people living in the Falklands are not represented in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Instead, the Falklands has its own Legislative Assembly, and the Queen appoints a Governor to act in her stead within the islands. It would also be possible for a BOT to be given independence if it wanted it - it would be much more complicated to give independence to part of the United Kingdom.
We got rid of the one guy who kept the Iranians in check.....Saddam.
Argentina was ready to plunge the entire southern part of South America into war with Operation Pink. Their next target was Chile (no speculation it was in their newspapers) who would have kicked their butts so hard they would have had to < removed under advice from husband > erm.... very hard.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.