American peacekeeping forces in
Beirut, a part of a multinational force during the
Lebanese Civil War who had been earlier deployed by
Reagan, were attacked on
October 23,
1983. The
Beirut barracks bombing resulted in the deaths of
241 American servicemen and the wounding of more than 60 others by a suicide truck bomber. Reagan sent a
White House team to the site four days later, led by his
Vice President,
George H.W. Bush. Reagan called the attack "despicable", pledged to keep a military force in
Lebanon, and planned to target the
Sheik Abdullah barracks in
Baalbek, Lebanon, training ground for
Hezbollah fighters,[170][171] but the mission was later aborted. On
February 7,
1984,
President Reagan ordered the
Marines to begin withdrawal from Lebanon. In
April 1984, as his keynote address to the 20,
000 attendees of the
Rev. Jerry Falwell's "Baptist
Fundamentalism '84" convention in
Washington, D.C., he read a first hand account of the bombing, written by
Navy Chaplain (
Rabbi)
Arnold Resnicoff, who had been asked to write the report by Bush and his team.[172]
Osama bin Laden would later cite Reagan's withdrawal of forces as a
sign of American weakness.[173]
On
October 25, 1983, only two days later, Reagan ordered
U.S. forces to invade
Grenada, code named
Operation Urgent Fury, where a
1979 coup d'état had established an independent non-aligned
Marxist-Leninist government. A formal appeal from the
Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (
OECS) led to the intervention of U.S. forces; President Reagan also cited an allegedly regional threat posed by a Soviet-Cuban military build-up in the
Caribbean and concern for the safety of several hundred American medical students at
St. George's University as adequate reasons to invade. Operation Urgent Fury was the first major military operation conducted by U.S. forces since the
Vietnam War, several days of fighting commenced, resulting in a
U.S. victory,[174] with 19 American fatalities and 116 wounded American soldiers.[
175] In mid-December, after a new government was appointed by the Governor-General, U.S. forces withdrew.[174]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_reagan
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.
Grenada gained independence from the
United Kingdom in
1974. The leftist
New Jewel Movement seized power in a coup in 1979 suspending the constitution. After a 1983 internal power struggle ended with the deposition and murder of revolutionary
Prime Minister Maurice Bishop, the invasion began early on
25 October 1983, just two days and several hours after the bombing of the
U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, early Oct. 23 Beirut time, late evening Oct
. 22 U.S.
Eastern time.
The U.S. Army's
Rapid Deployment Force (1st, 2nd
Ranger Battalions and
82nd Airborne Division Paratroopers),
U.S. Marines,
U.S. Army Delta Force and
U.S. Navy SEALs and other combined forces consisted of the 7,600 troops from the
United States,
Jamaica, and members of the
Regional Security System (
RSS)[5] defeated Grenadian resistance after a low-altitude airborne assault by the 75th
Rangers on
Point Salines Airport on the southern end of the island while a
Marine helicopter and amphibious landing occurred on the northern end at
Pearl's Airfield shortly afterward.
The military government of
Hudson Austin was deposed and replaced by a government appointed by Governor-General
Paul Scoon until elections were held in 1984.
While the invasion enjoyed broad public support in the United States,[6] and received support from some sectors in Grenada from local groups who viewed the post-coup regime as illegitimate,[7] it was criticized by the United Kingdom,
Canada and the United Nations General Assembly, which condemned it as "a flagrant violation of international law".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Grenada
- published: 13 May 2013
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