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From: wall@ucbvax.ARPA (Steve Wall)
Newsgroups: net.politics,net.college
Subject: Re: Grenada rescue & weakness (long response)
Message-ID: <3038@ucbvax.ARPA>
Date: Sat, 3-Nov-84 04:34:09 EST
Article-I.D.: ucbvax.3038
Posted: Sat Nov  3 04:34:09 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 3-Nov-84 22:37:07 EST
References: <29200162@uiucdcs.UUCP> <149@ut-sally.UUCP> <26@uwvax.UUCP>
Organization: University of California at Berkeley
Lines: 72


Now that Grenada is a little over a year behind us, here is what I have
concluded from the information I've seen:

1) The students - I really don't know if the students were in danger, but
		  I was somewhat skeptical of the stories that were told
		  after seeing the president of the American Univ. switch
		  his story from "we weren't in danger" to "our lives were
		  in danger". He switched his story after he had been back
		  in the U.S. for a few days.

2) Grenadians -	  At first I thought that the Grenadians would be against
		  the invasion. I thought that they would see the big U.S.
		  government killing their revolution. On the 1 year 
		  anniversary of the invasion, I saw two TV reports on 
		  "Grenada Today". The first was a report by Charlene Hunter-
		  Gault of the McNiel-Leherer News Hour. She was one of the
		  first reporters on Grenada following the invasion, and she
		  seemed to cast a dark shadow on the invasion. BUT, a year
		  later, she went back, and she was very surprised to find
		  that the Grenadians supported the invasion. She was clearly
		  uneasy reporting this (perhaps she was expecting something
		  else). She said, "Whenever I referred to the invasion as
		  an 'invasion', the local people were very quick to tell
		  me that they saw it as a 'rescue mission'". Now clearly
		  many of the people who would see the U.S. mission as an
		  "invasion" are in jail, were killed during the invasion,
		  or are staying out of sight, but most Grenadians were
		  very scared when the people who killed Bishop also started
		  to kill several hundred people. The other report was by
		  a TIME correspondent who reported pretty much the same
		  thing, although he noted that there is some uncertainty
		  in the minds of most Grenadians about the outcome and
		  ramifications of the upcoming elections.

3) U.S. Military- If the U.S. feels great about their "military success"
		  in Grenada, I would have to point out that the military
		  operation itself was a cakewalk; the opposition was
		  totally outarmed by the U.S.. I don't think the U.S.
		  could have the same "easy" success against a country
		  like Nicaragua (that's why we have someone else fighting
		  our war there!). Also, the troops who participated in
		  the Grenada operation were supposed to be on their way
		  to Beirut; no doubt that the success of the Grenada
		  operation raised moral in the military. Since Beirut, this
		  was needed very badly.

4) The future -   No doubt the U.S. used Grenada as an example to Nicaragua
		  about what they might face if they piss the U.S. off too
		  much.  The U.S. won't send their own troops to Nicaragua
		  until the Contras run out of steam. If the U.S. does invade
		  Nicaragua, there will be a helluva lot more heat from
		  other countries (Contradora countries, European countries),
		  and the fight will be MUCH more bloody. The U.S. will lose
		  many men, and the same goes for Nicaragua. Plus, there will
		  be plenty of people who will regroup and fight back against
		  the U.S./New Nicaraguan Gov. It won't be as easy as Grenada!


To sum up, I feel pretty much like Charlene Hunter-Gault felt; I opposed the
invasion of Grenada (and still do on some issues), but hearing the local
people speak positively about the "rescue mission" made me stop and think.
If the U.S. invades Nicaragua, I will be extremely upset; there are ways
to avoid a war in Central America, but the Reagan Ad. seems set on avoiding
diplomatic channels and pursuing military channels. The U.S. will not settle
for anything less than the overthrow of the Nicaraguan government. I don't
think you'll find too many Nicaraguans saying that the U.S. invasion is a
"rescue mission".....

Steve Wall
wall@ucbarpa
..!ucbvax!wall