Some wise advice today from Charles Moore in The Daily Telegraph to 'Dim Dave' who needs all the wise advice he can lay his hands on! Moore begins by re-iterating not just the help the Americans gave us before and during the Falklands war but the nature of it. These reminiscences are provoked by a commemorative dinner to be held this week in Portsmouth by the Navy Museum. The main guest is John Lehman, the Sec. of Defence at the time, who describes the 'bottom up' nature of the assistance provided:
Mr Lehman will explain how, contrary to current historical orthodoxy, the Americans helped Britain instinctively, secretly and right from the start of the Falklands war. He should know, because he did it.
Mr Lehman’s key point is that this help came from the bottom up. So great were what were called “the customary patterns of cooperation” between Britain and the US that they could provide the cover for a huge operation. Weeks before the US announced its public policy “tilt” to Britain on April 30, 1982, there was, as Mr Lehman puts it, “already water flowing through the pipes”. President Reagan felt benign towards Britain, and particularly towards Mrs Thatcher, his friend since both were in opposition, but it was not necessary for him to approve anything for help to start.
The point Mr. Lehman stresses is that the very many mutal links up and down the chain of command between American and British armed forces made the donation of aid in its myriad forms from weapons to intelligence not only easier but in reality perfectly natural:
US and British personnel, already in place before the Falklands war, worked together at the headquarters at Northwood in Britain and at Norfolk, Virginia. Mr Lehman and his boss, the defence secretary Caspar Weinberger, made sure Britain was helped with fuel, logistics, intelligence, use of a base on Ascension Island and of a naval missile test range in Puerto Rico, and Stinger surface-to-air missiles. They achieved this without informing the more wobbly State Department, and often without making Britain pay. Later, the US supplied Sidewinder missiles and 200 Mk-46 torpedoes. Lehman was even authorised to prepare the helicopter carrier USS Iwo Jima in case one of the two British aircraft carriers should be lost.
Far from being a mere phrase in polite diplomatic speeches, the “special relationship” in the Falklands war was what Mr Lehman calls a “functional reality”. The ties of history, culture, kit, intelligence, men and know-how were all there, all ready, all working. They won the day.
But "the times they are a-changin'"! Whilst it is necessary for 'Dim Dave' to cuddle up close to President Obama despite, or perhaps, particularly given his incipient anti-British feelings, it would be a colossal error to shun Mitt Romney. 'Dim Dave' should ignore the mandarins in the 'Ministry for Foreigners' who regularly illustrate their complete ignorance of the reality behind this or that foreign ruler. A prime example was given just recently when the FO, presumably, advised 'Dave' to continue the love-in with Sarkozy and snub Hollande even when it became increasingly clear that Hollande was likely to win. As regular readers of this blog will know, not least because I keep reminding them, I have been telling you all that Obama is 'dead man walking'. Even after the train crash mutilations which the Republicans inflicted upon themselves during the endless months of their nomination primaries, Mitt Romney, the badly bruised winner, is still ahead of Obama in some of the polls. It would be a crass mistake by 'Dim Dave' to refuse to hold out a hand to Romney, a fellow conservative, even if Obama has a hissy fit over it.
Alas, given his obvious dimness, 'Dave' is quite likely to do exactly that!












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