Thatcher tours Falklands War exhibit

Margaret Thatcher inaugurated the Imperial War Museum's Falklands exhibit Tuesday, 25 years after the then-British prime minister repelled Argentina's attempt to take the South Atlantic islands by force.

The museum has gathered letters, sketches and memorabilia from survivors and witnesses to the conflict _ a 10-week war in which some 650 Argentine troops, more than 250 British personnel and three islanders were killed.

Some were on hand to help guide Thatcher, who rarely appears in public due to frail health, on a private tour of the exhibition before it opens Wednesday.

"It's great to be here," said Tim Miller, a Falklands sheep farmer who was partially blinded when a British warplane mistakenly bombed his house. "To us, Margaret Thatcher was what (Winston) Churchill was to Britain in the Second World War."

The exhibit includes a letter Miller sent his family during the war and one of the pieces of shrapnel he collected from the strike on his home.

Other items include a crucifix belonging to Commander Nestor Cenci, who was aboard the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano when it was sunk by a British submarine, and the diary of navy surgeon Rick Jolly _ honored by both Britain and Argentina for his humanitarian work during the conflict.

Thatcher arrived just after noon, greeting dignitaries in the museum's main hall _ a bright, glass-roofed atrium cluttered with tanks, artillery, rockets and planes.

She offered no public remarks.

The exhibit, one of a series of events planned in Britain to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the war, will run until Jan. 6, 2008.