MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Conservative leader backs Falklands Urges armed forces be kept strong

In his first major public pronouncement on the Falkland Islands, the Opposition Conservative Party Leader, Iain Duncan Smith, has described the 1982 liberation as “a noble objective” and has warned against any further cuts in Britain's military strength. He argues that the armed forces must be given the resources to mount such an operation again should it be necessary.

He makes it clear he fully backs the Islanders in their wish for self-determination and the rejection of Argentina's sovereignty claim.

In a newspaper article on the 20th anniversary of the British landings at San Carlos, he writes: "The resolve to stand up to aggression is worthless if we lack the means to carry it out ?Twenty years on, there are those who invite us to discount the Falklands War as an historical episode of no relevance to Britain today. Some even want us to avoid commemorating it at all. To them, I say: 'Shame on you'.

"That would be rank ingratitude to the memory of the brave men and women who fought, and in many cases gave their lives, to defend the right of British citizens to live their lives in peace, free from the menaces of dictatorships. That was, and is, a noble objective.

"It would also be a folly. Because remembering the Falklands War reminds us that we must never again allow our enemies to expect that we will be supine in response to aggression. And it should serve as a warning that we must always retain the means for our resolution to be credible".

Mr Ian Duncan Smith, writing in the mass circulation Daily Mail, says that "recalling the conflict fills me with particular pride because my regiment, the 2nd Battalion, Scots Guards, served with such distinction", especially in the critical battle for Mount Tumbledown.

He had left the Army less than a year previously so knew many of the men who fought in the Falklands. "They fought not conscripts but professional, highly trained soldiers which made their achievement even more significant.

Deterring aggressors
Today some siren voices are saying the Falklands was a war we would not fight today and, by implication, should not have fought then. They could not be more wrong.

"Every war is a failure in one sense: the fact that military action is needed shows credible deterrence has failed. That is the first crucial lesson of the Falklands Conflict. Wars are caused by allowing aggressors to think that they can act with impunity?.

The military junta in Argentina assumed our reaction in the face of an invasion of our sovereign territory would ultimately be one of impotence?.The Falklands were invaded because people thought we would not have the will to fight?It showed the world we were willing to stand up for what was right, and that we had the courage to see it through?.

"The lesson we relearned in those islands 20 years ago is as relevant today as it was then. If aggressors sense that civilised nations lack the will to act, they will take advantage and attack".

Harold Briley - London