OT: Chilcot Report

[Andy_Faber]

Think the cartoonist Steve Bell described it at the time as 'a bloody victory snatched from the jaws of a diplomatic solution'...the sinking of the Belgrano...outside the exclusion zone and moving further away...was as much of an individual 'war crime' as any in recent history.

I don't know what constitutes a war crime but the Belgrano thing was nothing to be proud of thats for sure.

I don't think there would ever be a diplomatic solution though, Argentina wanted a scrap even more than we did. I had a small window into the Argentine world at the time through an Argentine living down the road from me (that might sound like a load of *******s but its a fact, he shared a house in Sinfin with some workmates of mine) who, well before the Falklands conflict, had been called up for military service as soon as he returned to Argentina, which being a non-brave type, he'd declined to do! The Argentine military, in his words, 'needed a war somewhere' to consolidate their power base. He also offered the opinion that the Argentine army would get hammered in any conflict, whoever they took on, which was a good call.

[ramAnag]

I don't know what constitutes a war crime but the Belgrano thing was nothing to be proud of thats for sure.

I don't think there would ever be a diplomatic solution though, Argentina wanted a scrap even more than we did. I had a small window into the Argentine world at the time through an Argentine living down the road from me (that might sound like a load of *******s but its a fact, he shared a house in Sinfin with some workmates of mine) who, well before the Falklands conflict, had been called up for military service as soon as he returned to Argentina, which being a non-brave type, he'd declined to do! The Argentine military, in his words, 'needed a war somewhere' to consolidate their power base. He also offered the opinion that the Argentine army would get hammered in any conflict, whoever they took on, which was a good call.

Yep, find that entirely believable. Two leaders both seeking to enhance their reputations via a very 'convenient' small war imo. As ever it was the 'pawns' that paid the price of political ambition. 'Twas ever thus.

There will of course obviously always be inevitable casualties of war but, to me, a 'war crime' is an act committed by the participants or ordered by the leaders which, even within the awful context of the 'theatre of war', leads to unnecessary suffering and/or death.