Nash, N. S. Caribbean Crisis

The Invasion of Grenada, 1983

In 1983, President Reagan's military intervention in Grenada, under the pretext of rescuing US citizens, resulted in a botched operation that exposed political and military missteps. In 1983, Grenada, a small Commonwealth island in the Caribbean, maintained close ties with communist Cuba. Bernard Coard and a group of Marxist-Leninist hardliners overthrew the unelected Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and executed him and his entourage. President Ronald Reagan was paranoid, believing that Cuba was establishing a powerful military base in Grenada. To eliminate what he saw as a threat, he decided to bring about regime change in Grenada. To justify armed intervention, he made the safety of US citizens on the island his casus belli. Grenada's poorly trained, lightly armed and unmotivated armed forces numbered only a few hundred men. Nevertheless, Reagan assembled a large fleet and 7,500 soldiers to conquer the island and rescue its citizens. It was an oversized hammer to crack a tiny nut. Reagan misled the British government about his intentions, ignored Prime Minister Thatcher's pointed views, and, after assembling a cosmetic coalition of other Caribbean states, US forces marched onto the island. This insightful book by an experienced historian examines what he calls a master class in political and military incompetence. The invasion was deemed illegal by the United Nations, and during the US's three-day Operation Urgent Fury, everything that could go wrong did go wrong. However, the courage of the American soldiers is beyond question, even if the quality of their leadership left much to be desired. In this book, the author covers the trial of the killers and the impact of Reagan's bellicose rhetoric, which nearly triggered World War III after Urgent Fury. It is a concise, accurate summary and highly readable account of an event in modern history that restored democracy to Grenada and led to major changes in the way the US armed forces operate.