preview

Essay on The U.S. Invasion of Grenada

Decent Essays

Introduction

Few have heard a little island called Grenada and the swift little war called Operation Urgent Fury. Thirty-one years ago as I sat in the fourth grade listening to Mrs. Sebastian tell us that America had invaded Grenada. It was only the previous month my tiny Island nation had gain its independence from Great Britain. People were still high off this great accomplishment. It was not until I migrated to the United States and studied history that I fully understood the reason why we had to act. Together with the Iran hostage situation and the bombing of the Marine Corp barracks in Beirut that killed 241 American Servicemen made tensions extremely high. With over 600 American students trapped on an island draped in bitter …show more content…

The American students who lived on the island soon found themselves trapped and running out of food and supplies. This entire situation created a problem for the United States; it was time to act. According to President Reagan, the goal of the mission was to rescue the Americans, restore stability to the island, and deter communist influence in the region.

Planning and Preparation One of the primary considerations in planning Operation Urgent Fury (the code word for the rescue mission) was secrecy. As a result, the extreme limited number of individuals involved in the planning restricted the range of experience that could be drawn upon to orchestrate the resources of an Airborne Division.
On the 20th of October the deputy national security adviser, Rear Adm. John M. Poindexter, convened a crisis-preplanning group to discuss the looming crisis. President Reagan appointed Vice-President George H. W. Bush to chair this Special Situation Group. Initially the Plan was to direct a force to perform an opposed rescue of the hundreds of Americans stranded on the Island. As the situation developed, it was soon clear that a more diverse and joint operation was need. The announcement of the diversion of the Independence battle group to the eastern Caribbean on 21st October received positive reactions from many of the governments of the small islands nearest Grenada. The heads of those governments met in Barbados and unanimously agreed to support any intervention on

Get Access