│As small as we are, and poor as we are, as a people and a country we insist on the fundamental principals of a legal equality, mutual respect for sovereignty, non-interference in our internal affairs, and the right to build our own process free from outside interference, free from intimidation, free from bullying, free from the use of threat of force. We say this is our right as a country and as a people and we will fight and die for that right.▓1 This was said by Maurice Bishop the Prime Minister of Grenada on March 13, 1980. At the time Bishop was probably unaware that someday his country would have to do just that, fight and die for their rights, nor did he know that it would be somewhat his fault.
On October 25, 1983 United States troops invaded Grenada. How necessary was this invasion? The United States President, Ronald Reagan, said the the invasion was necessary in order to protect the lives of over 600 US students and at least 500 more United States citizens that were all on the island. In actuality the US invaded Grenada as a result of a cry for help from neighbouring island nations, Antigua, Barbados, Dominica, Jamaica, St. Lucia and St. Vincent. These islands feared that the island would be used as a base to support terrorism and leftist revolutions by the Soviet Union and Cuba.
In the few weeks in October 1983 that the invasion took place, international attention was suddenly focused upon this tiny Caribbean island. Most people found it difficult to understand the events that were taking place in Grenada. Two of the most important and most dramatic events were; the house arrest and execution of Prime Minister Bishop and the invasion of Grenada at dawn at St. George╣s by the United States.
On Thursday October 13, 1983 Bishop was put under house arrest and his telephone was disconnected, this was decided to be done by members of The New Jewel Movement. Their reasoning for this was because they thought Bishop was trying to make Grenada a one man government. On the morning of Wednesday October 14 a huge crowd, of up to 15,000 people, assembled in the market square. All shops and offices were closed, employees were on strike. │It was as if îan underground telegraph system had worked all over the island... Trucks and buses poured in from everywhere... It was much more crowded than carnival.▓2 At around 9 am 3,000 to 4,000 people mainly school children marched up the street to Bishop╣s house. The crowd found Bishop crying and tied to a chair in his underwear. Bishop was taken to Fort Rupert, named after his father, to make a public address to his supporters. Just be for 1 pm two Russian-built armoured cars and an armoured troop carrier arrived and opened fire on the crowd. The troops took Bishop aside, he was told the he was to die. A PRA (People╣s Revolutionary Army) eye witness reported that Bishop │gave a deep sigh, folded his arms and turned silently to face his killers, who shot him in the head.▓3 The exact number of deaths at the fort is still unknown, and probably never will be, but some think that it was over one hundred.
On Monday October 24, shops and offices reopened, Pearls airport was reopened, PRA armoured patrols were withdrawn from the streets and placed in discreet locations. Schools were still ordered to remain closed. General Hudson Austin announced that he was the new leader of the 16-man military government. He ordered a curfew from 8 pm to 5 am, │warning that any violators would be shot on sight.▓4 Thirty-six minutes after the first night of curfew had ended, the invasion had begun. Under the cover of the darkness a group of US Navy Seals slipped silently shore. They went up the hill overlooking the city of St. Georges. They went to the house of Sir Paul Scoon, the islands British appointed Governor General. He had been under house arrest by Grenada╣s revolutionary Marxist military leaders. Four hundred marines roared into Pearls airport, the only one functional at the time. About a half an hour later hundreds of US Rangers parachuted onto the unfinished 10,000 ft air strip at Point Salines, on Grenada╣s southeastern tip. │For the first time since the end of the Viet Nam War, the US has committed its troop to a combat attack.▓5 Two hours later the Pearls airport was declared secured by the US military.
So where were what Reagan called the purpose of the invasion, the students, during the first crucial hours of the invasion. The students were awakened by the explosions and gunfire. The students at True Blue campus of St. George╣s University School of Medicine did not know who was shooting at whom. Bullets crashed through their windows as they took cover in bathtubs and under their beds. The assistant to the school Chancellor, John Kopycinski, banged on the students doors and told them to block their windows with mattresses. The medical school╣s grand Anse campus was isolated from its True Blue buildings. It was not until 8:30 am that the students heard or saw US soldiers near the men╣s dorm. The students were told to collect a few belongings and go to the adjacent lecture hall. The students set up a treatment centre in the library. They helped the wounded Grenadian's, Cubans and Americans. The basketball court was turned into a helicopter pad to carry the wounded to hospitals. By this time there were 1,900 US troops on the island.
On Tuesday afternoon the soldiers moved to the west coast of the island. The medical staff and students tried to locate 200 students living off campus. It was not until 7:12 am on Wednesday that the marines were able to overcome troops at the Governor Generals house and join the seals who were inside. Students at the Grand Anse Campus had still not seen any sign of help from the marines. At 4 pm they finally started to receive help.. The students ran for the evacuation helicopters as shots whizzed by them.
│By Thursday Atlantic Fleet Commander Admiral Welsly McDonald later reported îall major military objectives in the island were secured╣ But on Friday he said îscattered pockets of resistance î remained îand fighting is still in progress.▓6 By that time 5,000 paratroopers, 500 marines and 500 rangers were on the island. As many as 1,100 Cubans were there, 638 were in the custody of the invading forces, the US. Fidel Castro planned to send 341 officers and 4,000 more soldiers to Grenada, but he did not as time was running out. The US soldiers had found six warehouses full with Soviet and Cuban arms, just north of Point Salines.
The battle ended on Friday October 28. All major military objectives of the US forces had been achieved. By this time there were 6,000 US troops on the island. The US expected a quick victory but they were met with much more resistance than it anticipated, mainly from the Cubans. │The military causalities of the invasion that were killed in action: US 18, Cuban 24 and Grenadian 16. The Caribbean troops were at no time involved in combat and so did not suffer causalities.▓7
How necessary was this one week invasion? Why was the worlds greatest power, the US, invading an island that is just 133 square miles in size and with only 110,000 inhabitants, whose best known export is nutmeg? The polls showed support for the invasion but this is not an answer. By answering a few questions, it might be easier to understand why the US did what they did. Were the US students in imminent danger? No, they were not yet in imminent danger, but the young Americans so close to and unstable regime could eventually have been in jeopardy. At the least they were and attractive hostage target. Evacuation would have been a better and safer option. If their safety was a primary concern, which obviously it was not.
Grenada was in a state of anarchy. The new leaders would have been unable to establish control, and they were unwilling to give up power. Most likely more arrests and violence would have happened. Were the Cuban construction workers that the US thought were also soldiers really soldiers or workers? They were both the US had underestimated the capabilities of the Cubans before the invasion.
Was the new 10,000 ft airstrip a legitimate source of concern for the US? Grenadian's argued that they needed something better than the existing 5,300 ft unlit grass strip to attract tourism. │Large commercial jets need at least 8.000 ft▓ 8 Although the new strip was not built with the protective structures usually found at military airports, it certainly could have been used for military reasons. Such as; it could have been used by heavy military aircrafts as a transport point for Cubans on their way to Africa and Soviets transporting weapons to Central America. Grenada was being turned into a sort of Soviet Cuban fortress.
In conclusion the invasion of Grenada was not really to save the lives of the students or because of the cry for help by the neighbouring islands. It was to save Grenada from becoming a total Soviet-Cuban fortress and a Marxist-leftist country.
REFERENCE SOURCES/ BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Banta, Kenneth w.; Time Weekly Magazine │Spice Island Power Play▓ October 31, 1983.
2. Burnet, David; Time Weekly Magazine │How Necessary was the Invasion?▓ November 14,1983.
3. Church, George J.; Time Weekly Magazine │How Much Can America Do?▓ November 7, 1983.
4. Diederich, Bernard; Maclean╣s Weekly │Bishop╣s Last Stand▓ October 31, 1983.
5. Magnuson, Ed; Time Weekly Magazine │A Day in Grenada▓ November 7, 1983.
6. Magnuson, Ed; Time Weekly Magazine │D-Day in Grenada▓ November 7, 1983.
7. Magnuson, Ed; Time Weekly Magazine │How to Make it Work▓ November 14, 1983.
8. Payne, Anthony, Sutton Paul and Thordike, Tony; Grenada Revolution and Invasion. St Martins Press Inc. New York, 1984.
9. Rosenblatt, Roger; Time Weekly Magazine │Days of Shock▓ November 7, 1983.
10. Seabury, Paul and McDougall, Walter A.; The Grenada Papers. ICS Press, California 1984.
11. Tifft, Susan; Time Weekly Magazine │A Treasure Trove of Documents▓ November 14, 1983.
12. Walcott, John and Whitbaker, Mark; Newsweek Magazine │A Crisis in the Caribbean▓ October 31, 1983.
