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Prince William Being Sent To Falklands 'Not Provocative' Says MOD Chief

Prince William Falklands

First Posted: 13/11/2011 13:10 Updated: 13/01/2012 10:12   PA

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The Chief of the Defence Staff has denied sending the Duke of Cambridge to the Falkland Islands was designed to provoke Argentina.

William, a Flight Lieutenant with the RAF, will deploy to the remote outcrop in the South Atlantic for six weeks next year to fly search and rescue helicopter missions.

But Argentine official Sebastian Brugo Marco said the country could not ignore the "political" implications of his move, which comes shortly before the 30th anniversary of Argentina's defeat in the Falklands, to which it lays claim and calls Las Malvinas.

Mr Marco said: "It is one more provocative act that shows Britain's military presence in a zone of peace where there is no armed conflict."

Britain's armed forces' chief General Sir David Richards today dismissed the claims, saying: "I can absolutely tell you it wasn't and isn't designed to be."

He stressed William's deployment was routine for an RAF Sea King pilot, pointing out Prince Harry was sent to Afghanistan as a forward air controller in 2008.

Gen Richards said: "Prince William, along with his brother Prince Harry, is a regular member of the armed forces and they do their stint in the roster that comes all our ways."

He told Sky News' Murnaghan programme relations between the UK and Argentina were "pretty constructive" and better today than when war broke out in 1982.

He added: "There has been no warlike talk from Argentina.

"They clearly disagree with us over the Falkland Islands but we're all determined not to repeat the mistakes of 1982."

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The Chief of the Defence Staff has denied sending the Duke of Cambridge to the Falkland Islands was designed to provoke Argentina. William, a Flight Lieutenant with the RAF, will dep...
The Chief of the Defence Staff has denied sending the Duke of Cambridge to the Falkland Islands was designed to provoke Argentina. William, a Flight Lieutenant with the RAF, will dep...
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xoloitzcuintle
101 Fans
04:32 PM on 11/14/2011
Why is every comment on this story being posted by brand new accounts with the same grammar?
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sand171
42 Fans
08:57 AM on 11/14/2011
Makes you wonder if dav is after provoking the Argies into having a go! He believes the sick party talk of thatcher and needs to do better, with obarmy on the verge of defeat he knows he will have very close friends in the White house and if the rumours coming out of Spain and gibralter are true, that we our relaxing our hold on the rock, the Spanish World will not join in, and remember we don't even need a fleet for this one the Falklands are a fortress.
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Diesel Balaam
40 Fans
07:26 AM on 11/14/2011
If anyone is trying to make political capital out of this, it's the Argentinians. FACT: The Falklands are internationally recognised as British territory. FACT: the Falklanders want to remain British. FACT: Brave servicemen gave their lives to protect the Falklanders from an aggressive and illegal invasion. FACT: Prince William is absolutely right to go to uphold all of the above.
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silverbugle
11 Fans
06:47 AM on 11/14/2011
The Chief of the Defence Staff has denied sending the Duke of Cambridge to the Falkland Islands was designed to provoke Argentina. The Prince is in the armed forces he goes where his job takes him. I think Argentina feel they have more impact and have more importance than they do have in the world.
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bontz
30 Fans
01:16 AM on 11/14/2011
Argentina is waiting like a preying mantice to re take the Falklands at a time when we have no chance of defending it thanks to Dr Fox and the Goverment cuts.if anything happens to him Ca-Moron will have a lot of explaining to do.
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mad phil
7 Fans
12:30 AM on 11/14/2011
What a nerve, the Argies created one of the most provocative acts of modern times by sending their ugliest person to England, to play football ... anyway, don't see what it has to do with them if Flt.Lt. Wales spends six weeks in the Falklands flying his chopper ... I remember when his Father used to fly a helicopter from RAF Benson where the RAF ground crew had badges that said "I've handled Charlie's Chopper' ...
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bobbymc777
3 Fans
11:53 PM on 11/13/2011
Another shameful episode of imperialism. William should go to Buenos Aires on bended knee and beg forgiveness for the crown's illegal occupation of Las Mavinas.... Then onto Kabul... Belfast... so on...

Viva Malvinas son Argentinas...
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mad phil
7 Fans
12:39 AM on 11/14/2011
Perhaps his next tour of duty will be to Gibraltar, just to give Spain the opportunity to proclaim a provocative act ... especially after they lost to England at Wembley .. tee hee ...
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silverbugle
11 Fans
06:52 AM on 11/14/2011
Bobby what planet are you on. The royal family have nothing to do with our armed forces deployment. Can you tell me how many Argies live on the Falklands if you take the trouble to look you will see those that live on the Falkland do not want to become Argies they want to be British. Belfast is only a city in Northern Ireland and most in Northern Ireland want to stay British the Church of Rome are not in control as they are in Southern Ireland. Cheek up on your history to see the facts before making yourself look silly.
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JB101
18 Fans
08:45 PM on 11/13/2011
I really dont care what the argentinians think, provocative or not..its got absolutely nothing to do with them..im actually surprised it got leaked out so easily
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dlm838
8 Fans
06:50 PM on 11/13/2011
The Falklands are ours, the Argentines ( assuming of course that this is not just a sensationalist bit of reporting ) will use this as an excuse to raise their voices again, I saw action during the Falklands war and have been out today wearing my medal with pride, unlike the wars in which todays troops have been employed, at least the Falklands had a beggining a middle and an end, and was justified by the fact that an enemy had ivaded British soil,this however does not deflect from the fact that our troops go where they are sent and do a professional job regardless of the politics, William is serving in the British army and does not choose his deployments he goes where he is sent. Good luck to him and his regiment...and hope they pack plenty of long johns and vest because one thing I will never forget from my own experience is how bloody cold it is over there.
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lcdmartin
50 Fans
06:02 PM on 11/13/2011
What 'mistakes of 1982'? From my understanding the Argentines invaded the Falklands, we didn't use them as a landing base from which to invade Argentina? Please clarify this point if I am ill-informed but the only mistakes of which I know regarding the actions of the Britsh forces was relating to the manner in which they sank the Belgrano (and ensuing legal debate over if the journalist was entitled to speak out about it)?
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vermithrax
31 Fans
05:30 PM on 11/13/2011
Well better not provoke the argies too much, if they decided to invade the Falklands again we would probably have more firepower sending garden force than a military task force. At least there would not be any famous quotes like "I counted them all out, and I counted them all back again", since we no longer have aircraft for our carriers, well for the next 8 years anyway.
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earlsspg
61 Fans
09:47 PM on 11/13/2011
verm , we now have more Admirals than we have fighting boats. A real strategy statement from HMG.
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fwdinsight
29 Fans
04:45 PM on 11/13/2011
That is British territory. Argentine should keep its nose out of our affairs. In any event what can be provocative about him going to act in a rescue capacity. The Argentinians started provocking us when they blocked flights and other traffic recently. Yahwehnews dot comm
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garethl
32 Fans
04:00 PM on 11/13/2011
Get over it.... you lost!
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Syni Cal
120 Fans
04:23 PM on 11/13/2011
16:16 Real time.

And so did anyone who cared about democracy, and the majority of UK taxpayers, the unfortunate bit is that the majority of those people haven't yet realised how they are being conned.
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indlovubill
31 Fans
06:00 PM on 11/13/2011
Caring about democracy sometimes involves kicking invaders out of occupied territory, or would you rather we had left Hitler and the Argies to it?
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garethl
32 Fans
01:03 AM on 11/14/2011
I hate to mention this but democracy didn't exist in Argentina at the time of the Falklands conflict. The war was the result of the governing military Junta's attempt to whip up nationalist fervour to deflect criticism away from the Argentine economy. Britain fought The Falklands War because there might be vast amounts of oil under the sea. As for Democracy, as the eurozone fragments so does the democracies of Greece and Italy, Democracy is expensive, it is a commodity which devalues when the markets lose faith in it.
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