Bush grants interview to the Sun

[Timexwatch]

Originally posted by Spec
Wow, this looks like the National enquirer or some sh*t like that. Am I wrong?

Spec.

It seems to me to be the equivelent of the New York Post...

[MichaeltheGreat]

Originally posted by Tripledoc
Oh yes. The Sun.

When the British sank the Argentinian Battleship Belgrano, during the Maldivian War 800 souls went down with it. The Sun very tastefully plastered a headline that said 'GOTCHA! across the frontpage.

Actually, it was a cruiser - at least when we sold it to Argentina, it was a WW2 vintage relic with no ASW capability.

And it's not like there weren't cheers by some people, and other feelings on the other side, when a bunch of Royal Navy tin cans (what was it, four of them?) were sunk or badly damaged by Agentinean aircraft firing Exocet missiles.

Then again, what exactly was it that the ol' General Belgrano was intending to do with those 8 inch and 5 inch guns?

[Tripledoc]

Well, If I was that submarine captain which had to sink that cruiser, and I met this Murdoch charachter, who let that fart of headline slide, I would have punched him in the face. Bad sportsmanship, pure and simple, but what would he know of such things.

Rupert Murdoch was the editor of the Sun at that time.

[David Floyd]

When the British sank the Argentinian Battleship Belgrano, during the Maldivian War 800 souls went down with it. The Sun very tastefully plastered a headline that said 'GOTCHA! across the frontpage.

Erm, what's wrong with celebrating about this? The British sank an Argentine CRUISER which was coming after them, in a war started by Argentina. I fail to see anything wrong with the headline.

[Immortal Wombat]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten
God I love British papers. The Sun sounds better than the Daily Sport.

Nah, the Daily Sport is like the Sun's Page 3 all the way through, with some proper sports pages tacked on the back.

[Tripledoc]

Originally posted by David Floyd
Erm, what's wrong with celebrating about this? The British sank an Argentine CRUISER which was coming after them, in a war started by Argentina. I fail to see anything wrong with the headline.

Beside that it is in bad taste? It is wrong to use a war as a pretext to be re-elected. That is what is wrong.

The Belgrano incident triggered what became known as the Falklands War and remained the conflict's single largest loss of life. Britain had reasserted its claim to the Malvinas/Falkland islands after the Argentine military junta invaded them in 1982. The Belgrano was torpedoed and sunk by a Royal Navy submarine outside of a 200-mile “exclusion zone” unilaterally declared around the islands by the British government. The ship was sailing away from the islands when it was shot. Subsequently leaked documents from the Ministry of Defence in London suggest that the Belgrano sinking was aimed at stopping the peace negotiations taking place between Britain and Argentina.

Thatcher—aided by the tabloid media and with the full complicity of the Labour Party—used the war to create a jingoistic platform of support amongst significant sections of the population, and thus secured herself a second term in office at the 1983 general election.

Source
MichaeltheGreat asked where Belgrano was going. Looks like it was actually sailing away.

[Whaleboy]

Daily Sport:

I don't know how I would have coped through my adolescence without it

[David Floyd]

Argentina started the war by invading the Falklands. I fail to see how you can claim that sinking their major naval asset in preparation for a counter-invasion is in any way wrong, and I fail to see how a smug caption is in bad taste.

[Whaleboy]

I fail to see how a smug caption is in bad taste

Because hundreds of human beings, many of them conscripted, died and died horribly.

It shows that the paper was patriotic to the point of inhumanity. Another piece of evidence supporting my theory that patriotism should be left behind at the stadium.

[David Floyd]

Because hundreds of human beings, many of them conscripted, died and died horribly.

So instead, the British should have let the largest ship in the Argentine Navy stay afloat?

Sorry, but the responsibility for the deaths of those people lies with the Argentine government, not the British government. The British were doing nothing immoral, in retaliating against the Argentine invasion of the Falklands.

This isn't to say the British have never done anything immoral, just that the sinking of the Belgrano certainly wasn't wrong.

[Tripledoc]

To Mr. Floyd

Then you did not read the whole part of the article. The Belgrano was sailing away from the Islands. There were peace negotiations. And as MichaeltheGreat pointed out, it wasn't exactly their major naval asset. The French provided Exocet missiles were much more dangerous.

[Whaleboy]

So instead, the British should have let the largest ship in the Argentine Navy stay afloat?

No, however, its destruction should not have been celebrated.

Assuming the actions in the Falklands were a necessary evil, I do not accept that deaths and suffering as a result of war, or anything, deserves celebration by the other side. Its a common flag being taken in preference to a common humanity, whereas of course that latter is far more profound.

[Whaleboy]

it was a WW2 vintage relic with no ASW capability

Wasn't it a formerly decommisioned USN vessel that was one of the only major ships to escape from Pearl Harbour?

Tripledoc: . I'll spare you the DL dance

[David Floyd]

Tripledoc,

Then you did not read the whole part of the article. The Belgrano was sailing away from the Islands.

Don't see how this is relevant.

There were peace negotiations.

I'd have to have more info about this.

And as MichaeltheGreat pointed out, it wasn't exactly their major naval asset. The French provided Exocet missiles were much more dangerous.

Sure, but the Belgrano was certainly their largest warship, and probably perceived as the most dangerous. I also wouldn't want those 8 inch guns bombarding my troops on land.

Whaleboy,

Look at it like this. If the Belgrano wasn't sunk, it could have caused the death of British soldiers. So, the Sun was celebrating the fact that British soldiers would not be killed. Again, the British weren't wrong in this war. Argentina was.

[Bereta_Eder]

Re: Bush grants interview to the Sun

Appropriate!