Invasion of Grenada
The Invasion of Grenada, codenamed Operation Urgent Fury, was a 1983 United States-led invasion of Grenada, a Caribbean island
nation with a population of about 91,000 located 100 miles
(160 km) north of Venezuela, that resulted in a U.S. victory within a matter of weeks.
Triggered by a bloody military
coup which had ousted a four-year revolutionary government, the
invasion resulted in a restoration of constitutional government. It was controversial due to charges of American imperialism, Cold
War politics, the involvement of Cuba, the unstable state of the Grenadian government, the
illegality under international law and Grenada's status as a Commonwealth realm. Media outside the U.S. covered the invasion in a negative
outlook despite the OAS request for intervention (on the request of the U.S.
government), Soviet and Cuban presence on the island and the holding of
American medical students at the True
Blue Medical Facility.
The date of the invasion is now a national holiday in Grenada, called Thanksgiving Day, and the Point
Salines International Airport was renamed
in honour of Prime Minister Maurice Bishop. The invasion highlighted issues with
communication and coordination between the branches of the United States
military, contributing to investigations and sweeping changes, in the form of
the Goldwater–Nichols
Act and other reorganizations.
The invasion of Grenada in late 1983 can be seen as a small part of the rivalry between the U.S. and Cuba during the Reagan years. A bloody coup in Grenada, along with a perceived threat to American students on the island provided the U.S. with an excellent excuse to eliminate a Marxist regime allied to Fidel Castro's Cuba.
ReplyDeleteProblems between the US and the Caribbean nation began in 1979 (while the Cold War was still in effect) when a bloodless coup placed the pro-Marxist Maurice Bishop as the Prime Minister, which led to strengthened ties between Grenada and communist nations like Cuba and the Soviet Union.
Just prior to the invasion, protests rang off the walls of the Oval Office. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of the United Kingdom insisted, "in the strongest possible terms," that "Grenada was part of the British Commonwealth, and the United States had no business interfering in its affairs."
ReplyDeleteReagan later reminisced, "She was very adamant and continued to insist that we cancel our landings on Grenada. I couldn't tell her that it had already begun."
Following the invasion, Thatcher told Reagan,
"This action will be seen as intervention by a western country in the internal affairs of a small independent nation, however unattractive its regime. I ask you to consider this in the context of our wider East-West relations and of the fact that we will be having in the next few days to present to our Parliament and people the siting of cruise missiles in this country. I cannot conceal that I am deeply disturbed by your latest communication."
An impassive Reagan would later joke that Grenada had to be invaded because it was the world's largest producer of nutmeg. "You can't make eggnog without nutmeg," he remarked.
Amazing!!!)))As for me such holiday as Thanksgiving Day was associated with a faly holiday... It`s nice to see when everyone says "Thank you"))) I couldn`t even imagine that such "warm" ocasion could be connected with some military actions))) This is very interesting information)))
DeleteIt may sound strange, but also that day 'The International Day of Women for Peace' is celebrated.
ReplyDeleteSo, there is an opposition between the war conflict and the holiday.
Thank you, author, your post can help us to make our lives easy, working on the big topic 'Terrorism'.
By the way, I absolutely agree with Nadezhda, it sounds unpredictable. May be people who live on the Island (I don't know how we may call them, may be Grenades, or something like that) are still thinking like Indians in the USA?