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The Grenada Revolution Online

Why US Troops?
The United States in Grenada
October 25, 1983

United States armed services entered and landed on Grenada's territory before dawn on Tuesday, October 25, 1983. In the scope of U.S. history, the activity was a minor military engagement. Yes, they always quickly add "the Caribbean Peacekeeping Force," which did play a part.

The action is termed a coup de main, a pre-dawn vertical insertion, an invasion, an intervention, a non-permissive evacuation, a Yankee imperialist intervention, a forceful extraction, an incursion, an attack, war — among other identifiers, including a liberation, and a rescue mission. Grenadian journalist Alister Hughes has coined the word "intervasion" to describe the action. The U.S. military termed it "Operation Urgent Fury."

According to Hughes in an excerpt from his testimony before a House Committee on Foreign Affairs on 16 November 1983:

"I would like to refer to the fact that several people here have spoken about the American 'invasion.' May I say that people in Grenada resent that word greatly. They do not mind anybody talking about the American intervention in order to carry out a rescue mission, but as far as an invasion is concerned, I think that that is a word which Grenadians do not like at all, and I am speaking about every Grenadian I have spoken to. I have heard nobody who resents the fact that Americans came."

The result of United States forces in Grenada is viewed by some as the liberation of a people controlled against their will, and by others as another move by U.S. foreign policy makers to continue to expand into the Caribbean, thwarting the sovereign stance of Grenadians to a life of greater political, economic and social freedom.

One Grenadian songwriter composed this song titled "Had It Not Been" -

Had it not been for
The hand of America
What would have been
The fate of Grenada

The hand had moved
And touched President Reagan
To rescue Grenadians
Save us from Russian plans and the Cubans
Joseph Hankey, ©1983

Some got right taut on the question as exemplified by this quotation from Professor Colin Henfrey:

"One should not allow the obscenity of the U.S. eagle's vulturous attacks on the carcass of the revolution to overshadow the . . . question of what occurred in Grenada."

The United States had, let's use the word in the broadest sense, 'intervened' into the land of Caribbean states before:

The purchase of the Danish Virgin Islands in 1917

American troop occupation of the Dominican Republic
(1916-1924)

American troop occupation of Haiti (1915-1934)

In Cuba several times between 1906 and 1934

In the Dominican Republic (1965)

And now Grenada, October 25, 1983

“There were Grenadians who claimed,” according to Maurice Paterson in his book Big Sky, Little Bullet, revised, “to see the first landing around 3 a.m. that morning.”

“‘I see a flare go up behind the Hospital,’” one nearby resident said. ‘The soldiers on the Fort above coulda see the flare too for certain, but nothing else happened.’”

“The flare may well have been the frogmen signaling their flagship USS Guam miles out to sea. On board would be the invasion's coordinators, Admiral E. McDonald and Rear Admiral J. Metcalf III. They would throw close to eight thousand soldiers from four staging points at the Grenadian resisters with a potential twenty thousand waiting in reserve. The idea was to overwhelm by numbers and convince the resisters that surrender was the better proposition.”

Photo, The Resource Center TEXT OF UNITED STATES PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN'S ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE INVASION OF GRENADA

At a morning press conference, 25 October 1983, from Washington, DC, U.S. President Ronald Reagan made the following announcement:

“On Sunday, Oct. 23, the United States received an urgent, formal request from the five member nations of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States to assist in a joint effort to restore order and democracy on the island of Grenada.

We acceded to the request to become part of a multinational effort with contingents from Antigua, Barbados, Dominica, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the United States. I might add that two of those, Barbados and Jamaica, are not members of the organization but were first approached, as we later were, by the O.E.C.S. and asked to join in that undertaking. And then all of them joined unanimously in asking us to participate.

Early this morning, forces from six Caribbean democracies and the United States began a landing, or landings, on the island of Grenada in the eastern Caribbean.

We have taken this decisive action for three reasons:

First, and of overriding importance, to protect innocent lives, including up to 1,000 Americans, whose personal safety is, of course, my paramount concern.

Second, to forestall further chaos -

And third, to assist in the restoration of conditions of law and order and of governmental institutions to the island of Grenada where a brutal group of leftist thugs violently seized power, killing the Prime Minister, three cabinet members, two labor leaders and other civilians, including children.

Let there be no misunderstanding. This collective action has been forced on us by events that have no precedent in the eastern Caribbean and no place in any civilized society.

American lives are at stake, so we have been following the situation as closely as possible.

Between 800 and 1,000 Americans, including many medical students and senior citizens, make up the largest single group of foreign residents in Grenada.

From the start, we have consciously sought to calm fears. We were determined not to make an already bad situation worse and increase the risks out citizens faced.

But when I received reports that a large number of our citizens were seeking to escape the island, thereby exposing themselves to great danger, and after receiving a formal request for help, a unanimous request from our neighboring states, I concluded the United States had no choice but to act strongly and decisively.

Let me repeat: The United States objectives are clear -- to protect our own citizens, to facilitate the evacuation of those who want to leave and to help in the restoration of democratic institutions in Grenada.

I understand that several Caribbean states are asking that the Organization of American States consider the situation in Grenada.

Our diplomatic efforts will be in close cooperation with the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States and the other countries participating in this multinational effort.”

Check out The Grenada Weapons Exhibit, 12 November 1983

Next: What About the Medical School? Back: 13 October 1983 PRA Resolution
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