The commander of the British task force that captured the islands thinks Britain could not repeat the feat today:
"Twenty-nine years ago today, we re-claimed the Falklands for Britain in one of the most remarkable campaigns since the Second World War," Woodward wrote.
"The simple truth is without aircraft carriers and without the Americans, we would not have any hope of doing the same again today."
The Falklands "are now perilously close to being indefensible".
Official denials are ludicrous:
Responding to Woodward, a Ministry of Defence spokesman said: "Claims that the Falkland Islands could be taken without a fight are completely without substance.
"The current garrison in the Falkland Islands is much larger in scale and has a greater capability than in 1982 and this together with our ability to reinforce rapidly by air has been maintained."
Who said it would be taken "without a fight?" I have no doubt that the defenders would put up a fight in the finest traditions of the British army. But don't count on a repeat of Rorke's Drift. The forces on the Falklands simply could not hold it if attacked.
Counting on Britain's limited airlift (which is so engaged in Afghanistan that few paratroopers are jump qualified) to reinforce the island before an invasion is foolish. The air field has to be intact and the Argentinians would have to be completely absent in the air over the islands. And British intelligence would have to be pretty flawless to detect the invasion in time to reinforce for a better result than shipping troops to Singapore in early 1942.
And if taken by Argentina, how would Britain scrape together a task force to recapture the islands?
Operation Corporate could not be repeated today. They've been downsized and outsourced. And bankruptcy is looming.
But hey, maybe the Argentinians don't want the place anymore? Britain can always rely on hope, when all else fails. Hope is not a strategy, of course. But by its nature you can pretend it is. For a while, anyway.
