Absolutely... there was enough misunderstanding to go around.
Obviously when push comes to shove, the choice supporting Britain or Argentina was no choice at all. BUT Reagan realized that Galtieri (a right-wing buddy of ours, to boot) was playing this off as an anti-Imperialist move. So come down too hard on him, we lose credibility in the Third World-- and we were trying hard to regain lost ground after the 1970s.
So we tried to toe the line... figuring, like you said, that he was bluffing... and that the Brits could push those guys around without too much trouble. As it turns out a lot more Brits died than anyone counted on... but hindsight is 20/20...
Obviously when push comes to shove, the choice supporting Britain or Argentina was no choice at all. BUT Reagan realized that Galtieri (a right-wing buddy of ours, to boot) was playing this off as an anti-Imperialist move. So come down too hard on him, we lose credibility in the Third World-- and we were trying hard to regain lost ground after the 1970s.
So we tried to toe the line... figuring, like you said, that he was bluffing... and that the Brits could push those guys around without too much trouble. As it turns out a lot more Brits died than anyone counted on... but hindsight is 20/20...