Our British Ally ...
Twenty five years ago Maggie Thatcher chose what Jimmy Carter declined. War.
In Argentina, four out of ten veterans have attempted suicide at least once, five out of ten veterans are diagnosed with alcoholism, and seven out of ten suffer from sleeping disorder, and most of the families of veterans report fear of the violent reactions in minor conflicts. For details, see pagina/12. Until late 2003 no one knew that the price they would pay, humility of surrender and capture, was the alternative to first-use of nuclear weapons against the deployed force structure, and the force structure's logistical tail, including targets in Argentina.
The government of Margret Thatcher sent tactical nuclear weapons (free-fall bombs, the WE177) with the invasion force, and shuffled them about, causing seven weapons containers to become damaged under unstated circumstances, and leaving open the possibility that one or more weapons containers were lost when the destroyer Sheffield was sunk after being engaged by an Exocet (surface-to-surface) missile.
There is an important review of the press, UK and Argentine, at Le Monde, on the conflict, 25 years later.
Links: UK MOD WE177 tactical free-fall nuclear bombs dismantlement announcement (1998)
This was originally written on December 7th, 2003, and for some reason I can't recall, left in draft state, for me to find today. The original is in the extended area.
Le Monde reports: Londres avait envoy des armes nucléaires aux Malouines
Translated into Anglo-American, the government of Margret Thatcher sent tactical nuclear weapons (free-fall bombs, the WE177) with the invasion force, and shuffled them about, causing seven weapons containers to become damaged under unstated circumstances, and leaving open the possibility that one or more weapons containers were lost when the destroyer Sheffield was sunk after being engaged by an Exocet (surface-to-surface) missile.
Translated into Policy-Wonk, the government of Margret Thatcher affirmed the thesis that nuclear weapons may be used in military conflicts along with conventional weapons. The alternative thesis (there really are only two) is that nukes are a means of dissuasion, the end-game.
Background: In 1982 the Agentine military regime attempted to recover by force the Falkland Islands, occupied by Britian since 1833. The war lasted 74 days. Argentina suffered 648 lives lost, the UK 255. The defeat of the military regime in Buenos Aires lead to the fall of the dictatorship in the following year. The victory of the tory regime in London lead to the crushing defeat of the miner's union the following year, and privitization as public policy. [I lived in London in 1983/84].
This is the first time London has gone on record that it intended to use nuclear weapons in the Falkland Islands War. There should be diplomatic fall-out world-wide.
Update: Since disclosure of a prior covert deployment is a deployment in its own right, it seems reasonable to ask if there are any military or political goals the British state is currently pursuing which are advanced by this disclosure. Similarly, it seems reasonable to ask if London is acting as a proxy, with the same goals question. Coincidently, the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting is taking place now (December 5-8).
Links: UK MOD WE177 tactical free-fall nuclear bombs dismantlement announcement (1998): http://www.fas.org/news/uk/980730-uk1.htm