Party Vibe

Thatcher was no less wrong in going to war in the Falklands than Blair was in Iraq.

Any British leader of any political power would most likely have done so (even if they were leftwing the military would have managed to talk them into doing it – after all soldiers came first, before politicians). In both cases a longer term peaceful solution may have been possible but there was a perceived threat to the British economy and the British people enjoy war and conflict – particularly when they win .

Consider how much of our popular culture today in the 21st century remains obsessed with world war II which to mostly finished in 1945, only with the ever begruding formation of what ultimately led to the EU and how Germans are still mistrusted today (for instance young kids drove a German family out of their house in Newcastle by repeated intimidation and properly vandalism – in 2006!!)

If the Iraq war had resulted in the Middle East backing down and allowing neocolonisation, and petrol was 50p / €0,70 per litre across the EU, there would be celebratory street parties across Europe every few months, legalised drugs (to make the dissenters forget about the nastier bits of what had happened and because the Yanks would be too euphoric themselves to whinge) and Tony Blair would be a military hero like Lawrence of Arabia and statues built of him.

Whether by accident or design Thatcho picked a easier war to win and that was what boosted her power.

@barrettone 539936 wrote:

I don’t really agree with the assessment that it’s comparable to Iraq though. The Falklands actually got invaded so it was more or less a defensive war. Iraq was invaded on completely false pretences supplied by Bush and ended up costing the taxpayer billions of pounds. Of course if things had turned out differently everyone would be celebrating but the casus belli used was extremely flimsy and for lack of more refined terms “rock-fuck stupid.”

In moral terms the case to invade IR was less (and made worse by apallingly poor military strategy from the USA, and you would think the UK would learn something from mistakes made in WW II and elsewhere) but until recently (the obvious consequence of more immigration) the British people didn’t really give two shits for what happened in foreign lands unless it potentially benefited them. Some fights they win, some they lose. There are still many people around (not just OAPs either) extremely bitter about the loss off the British Empire, even those way too young to even remember what it was and too stupid to learn)

Iraq was once a UK colony but long before any of us were born. Even after independence London had economic power into the 1970s until the government nationalised it (with help from the Soviets).

I don’t dispute that colonisation is a bad thing (my own family were born in a former UK colony) but the UK and USA could forsee the coming economic depression and took a gamble which did not pay off. War is unavoidable in bad economic times and/or there is unequal distribution of resources

Kingdom of Iraq (Mandate administration) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Iraq Petroleum Company – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

@Mezz 539943 wrote:

The sickening part was how under-equipped our forces were, the reduction of conventional forces in favor of nuclear deterrent in the decade before not only put our troops at risk ( not only losses from winning but they could easily have lost all together ), but also the Argies knew we would never use Nukes, and would never have invaded if our Navy hadnt been reduced is size.

Another consequence of blindly following Washington (which politicians of all colours in the UK did since the end of WW II, seeing nuclear “everything” as a miracle…)

not only has that bit not changed over the years its got even worse, ironically the UK sometimes raises cash by selling off “redundant” MOD infrastructure to the Commonwealth nations (maybe not PK or ZW), expects the EU (especially DE, DK, NO, NL to guard the North Sea (from the South Europeans and/or refugees displaced by Arab Spring) and them moans about paying to the EU budget).