Lord Carrington: Falklands and Iraq both 'intelligence failures'
The Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands in 1982 was caused by a "failure of intelligence" equal to that leading up to the invasion of Iraq, according to Lord Carrington, who resigned as Foreign Secretary for his role in allowing the Falklands to be invaded.
As the crisis over the Falklands developed in the early spring, Lord Carrington, who as Foreign Secretary had overall responsibility for Britain's Secret Intelligence Service, was told by intelligence chiefs that Gen Galtieri, the Argentine dictator, had no immediate plans to invade.
"On the Falklands the intelligence was that Galtieri would not take any action to get the Falklands until he had exhausted all the other options at the UN. The truth of the matter is that the intelligence proved to be wrong," said Lord Carrington. "One should never base one's policy solely on intelligence. Mr Blair made the same mistake on the intelligence available on Iraq."
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Speaking on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the conflict, he said he had no regrets about resigning. "What I regret is that the invasion happened in the first place," he said.
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As the crisis over the Falklands developed in the early spring, Lord Carrington, who as Foreign Secretary had overall responsibility for Britain's Secret Intelligence Service, was told by intelligence chiefs that Gen Galtieri, the Argentine dictator, had no immediate plans to invade.
"On the Falklands the intelligence was that Galtieri would not take any action to get the Falklands until he had exhausted all the other options at the UN. The truth of the matter is that the intelligence proved to be wrong," said Lord Carrington. "One should never base one's policy solely on intelligence. Mr Blair made the same mistake on the intelligence available on Iraq."
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Speaking on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the conflict, he said he had no regrets about resigning. "What I regret is that the invasion happened in the first place," he said.