invasion of Grenada and the fall of its Marxist government can be viewed as part of a greater regional conflict. This conflict involved the U.S. and it’s Central American and Caribbean allies on one side and Fidel Castro’s Cuba, the Sandinista government of Nicaragua and Marxist guerrilla armies on the other. President Reagan and his administration were somewhat worried that the Marxist government of Prime Minister Maurice Bishop was allowing Cuba to gain influence in Grenada. The fact that Grenada constructed a military-grade airport with Cuban military engineers really was a red flag for President Reagan to take charge. Apparently, there were a lot of soviet weapons being stored at the newly constructed airport. While we as a nation often have good intentions of helping out countries in need, I do believe there were some ulterior motives in this particular war. I would venture a guess, and say that President Reagan made this unwise, and brash decision, largely in part, because he wanted to take the attention off the 240 U.S. Marines that were killed by a Muslim suicide bomber in Beirut. Of course President Reagan had his own words to say on the reasons for such an attack, he told a national television audience “That the invasion aimed to restore law and order and constitutional government on the island, where a brutal group of leftist thugs violently seized power last week.” Reagan said the overriding purpose of the invasion was to protect lives. He was largely concerned with safety of the 1000 Americans that lived in Grenada. Of the 1000 Americans living in Grenada about 600 were students at St. Georges Medical School Hospital in the southern end of the island. Administration officials said that they had not been harmed or threatened, and were in no immediate danger. This is a very confident statement and partly untrue. The students would have been in grave danger if they were not rescued so q...
