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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, MARCH 16, 1984
Well might Britain be concerned about being left out in the cold--not a full
member in Europe, yet seeing its real protector, its American cousin,
depart the scene.
British reliance on U.S. protection was graphically
revealed in an exclusive March 3 report in THE ECONOMIST. Now we know that,
had it not been for under-the-cover U.S. aid, Britain could have easily
lost the 1982 Falklands War. Here are key excerpts:
The British operation to recapture the Falklands in 1982 could
not have been mounted, let alone won, without American help....
Since the war's ending, both America and Britain have had an
interest in concealing the scale of this help.
The American
state department fears for its bruised relations with Latin
America....
American navy assessments seriously doubted whether Britain could
win a conclusive victory.... In extremes, the United States might
be called on for overt help which would be bad for America's
regional position and a godsend to the Russians. America by now
could not afford to see Britain lose.
But it was critically
important that it win soon and without American help being too
conspicuous....
Britain was ill-equipped to fight a sea war in the South Atlan
tic.... Above all, it had no bases in the vicinity and would need
huge quantities of aviation fuel to be able to fight 8,000 miles
from home and 4,000 miles from its midway staging post on Ascen
sion Island. The active collaboration of America was essential.
Mr. Caspar Weinberger, America's secretary of defense, is an
ardent Anglophile, admirer of both Pitts and of Churchill. From
the start, he realized Britain's logistics problems....
From day one of the task force, pleas for everything from
missiles to aviation fuel flooded the Pentagon from the British
military mission on Massachusetts Avenue.... To those intimately
involved, it seemed at times as if the two navies were working as
one.... Aid fell into three categories. First was for Ascension
itself.... Roads were repaired and fuel-pipelines built [at
Wideawake airbase).
An
astonishing 12.Sm gallons of aviation
fuel were diverted from American defense supplies for British
use.... Next were weapons, with pride of place going to the new
Sidewinder AIM-9L missile, the single most decisive weapon of the
campaign.
It claimed as many Argentine "kills" as all other
weapon systems together.... The supersensitive AIM-9Ls, which
could be fired sideways on, or even from ahead, were vital.
These were made available from American front-line stocks
immediately, a:s--were the adaptor plates to fit them to the GR3
RAF Harriers....
This and other American equipment poured into Ascension through
out the war. One observer estimated that, at one stage, Wide
a �ake was the world's busiest airport--buirer than Chicago's
o Hare....
Third, and to many British sources most important of all, was
intelligence aid.... High-definition military satellites were
not in an appropriate orbit.... However, it is now known that,