"a rebuttal of the facts that everyone knows, and which you are trying to avoid.

Namely that Thatcher buggered up and gave the impression somehow that she wasn't going to defend The Falklands."

Now let us see how the above lines up with the facts

The impression that Britain would not have the guts to defend the Falklands was firmly formed in the mind of the architect of scheme, Admiral Jorge Anaya, sometime between January 1975 and January 1976.

Margaret Thatcher and her Conservative Goverment came into power after the election in May 1979. They came into office to take over the complete and utter shambles left by Labour and their Lib-Dem Pact partners. As we have seen in the last twelve months the pattern has been repeated with a Labour Government leaving behind economic chaos that forces decisions on the incumbent Government. Hence the defence cuts announced by John Nott in 1981.

To say that Margaret Thatcher caused the Falklands War is absolute arrant nonsense - here are your exact words:

"She caused the war by withdrawing the battleships that had hitherto discouraged the Argies"

So the Argentines only cooked up this plot to invade the Falklands and South Georgia between John Nott announcing the withdrawal of service of HMS Endurance in the Defence review of July 1881 and the 19th March 1982?? What are you insane? Have you any idea how long it takes to prepare, plan, equip and train for such an enterprise? You need a damn sight more time than eight months. The UK response ("The Empire Strikes Back" I think the Headlines screamed) was rapid purely because we are in NATO and at that time were at all times fully prepared to respond to a Soviet attack in Europe at short notice.