This from the Chislehurst Derek Hatton...

Pro USA & Israel

Her government was negotiating handing over those islands before she hit the red button. That ship was sailing away from the islands when she ordered its sinking, I believe 300 conscripts were killed. I have no sympathy for her in death though I would not dance on anyone's grave a la Elvis Costello but understand the sentiments.

There were no negotitations whatsoever by the Government about any handover - they were may years before. The nonsense of the Belgrano has been resolved beyond any doubt. It was part of an offensive manoevre and it was perfectly within the rules of engagement to sink it. No serious commentator now disputes that.

Just because I don't care doesn't mean I don't understand!

My opinions may have changed, but not the fact that I am right.

(Member of the School of Optimism 1969-2016 inclusive)

Some have said that it was because of the sinking of the Belgrano that HMS Sheffield was sunk.

As an aside a conspiracy theory for you all to enjoy...

[Link]

However, it was not Thatcher’s decision to sink the General Belgrano. For as with all politicians the same dark players were in the background pulling strings to shape what we now know as history.
According to his security file ex French President Georges Pompidou was employed by the Rothchilds from 1953, he later went on to become the head of France in the late sixties but was known first and foremost as a Rothschild man. Similarly Rothschild appointed Margaret Thatcher as British prime Minister, as the Rothschilds wanted a quisling in place to oversee the transfer of large sums invested in Britain for reinvestment to India and the Far East.
Of the 20 positions in Thatcher’s cabinet Jews held the five most important positions, with Lord Victor Rothschild as security advisor.
So serious was this seen in MI6 that a Foreign Office memo was sent to Thatcher saying she must be seen as “even handed and not totally pro Jew”. Lord Victor Rothschild oversaw all domestic and foreign intelligence, and it has been said that it was his decision to sink the General Belgrano and Thatcher simply did as she was told. Remember Rothchild had investments in the mining of minerals in the Falklands region and he was not going to let those investments be shared with Argentina
The British nuclear submarine the Conqueror on May 2 1982 sunk the General Belgrano with the loss of 323 lives, just when Peru was co-hosting a peace initiative between the 2 countries. Thatcher told her cabinet that the Argentine battleship was a danger to British forces, although contemporary intelligence suggests that the sinking was intended to sabotage Peruvian peace plans and prevent the region’s mineral wealth being shared with Argentina.
Also on the advice of Rothschild’s ‘advisors’ Sir Keith Joseph and Milton Friedman, Thatcher began shutting down large sectors of British industry in the name of efficiency. Jobs in coal mining, shipbuilding, motorcar and motorcycle manufacturing, steel and much heavy industry were all brought under threat. While a crippling VAT tax on small businesses forced many to close virtually overnight.
This was called the Open Market economy and it ultimately led to the export of many hard won British jobs as Rothschild reinvested huge sums in industries in the Far East.
Nonetheless, in the Falklands campaign the U.S. refused to loan Britain the early warning AWACS aircraft, which would have saved its ships as telephone intercepts reveal the then ambassador to the UN, Jeanne Kilpatrick wanted Britain to negotiate with Argentina in a share of the Falklands. So India and particularly New Zealand took up the slack and forwarded radio signals to their former colonial overlords.
The USA saw both Argentina and Britain as allies and refused to take sides. For her part, Thatcher was said to have been furious with U.S. ambivalence and when she allowed the bombing of Libya to take place from U.S. air bases in Britain it was on the proviso that President Reagan stopped funds collected in the USA from reaching the IRA.
The Americans broke this agreement soon after, in November 1982
So you can bet all freedom of Information requests on the Falklands war will be redacted and vetted before anything is released in 2013 and contain nothing of significance.

This has been researched.

It's not fair to say they were negotiating handing over the islands as though that was a decision that had been taken or was going to happen.

Diplomats have discussions...The foreign office is the home of the diplomat...That's what they do. It doesn't mean that's policy. Britain rejected the idea....Argentina ended up invading.

The ship was sunk because....ITS A BLOODY WAR not a frigging dance. You give no quarter and get none. It had been in and out of the exclusion zone....The fault for those deaths was the fault of their commanders for putting them at risk.

I can safety say that the vast majority of the country thinks little of your perspective on this.

Edited by Stirlingsays (13 Apr 2013 9.59pm)

'Who are you and how did you get in here? I'm a locksmith. And, I'm a locksmith.' (Leslie Nielsen)

I'm not sure where I stand on the utility privatisations to be honest.....The railways were a disasterous idea, in fact bringing in the profit motive in areas of safety just isn't a good idea period.....Anyone who's seen programmes about the early airplane industry would know that.

'Who are you and how did you get in here? I'm a locksmith. And, I'm a locksmith.' (Leslie Nielsen)