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Ronald Reagan: Incidents US Invasion of Grenada Since 1950, Grenada had been under the control of Prime Minister Eric Gairy until 1979 when, in a practically bloodless coup, Maurice Bishop, head of a major opposition party formed in 1973, had Gairy thrown out and declared himself Prime Minister. Initially, the new government was welcomed by the Grenadians since Bishop promised to hold early elections and respect human rights. Bishop didn’t deliver on these promises. He suspended the constitution, refused to hold elections and turned toward Cuba and the Soviet Union for support. On October 12 1983, a conflict between Bishop and Deputy Prime Minister Bernard Coard finally erupted into an armed conflict that led to the execution of Bishop. A Revolutionary Military Council headed by the army’s chief general, Hudson Austin, was established. As a result of the upheaval, the Reagan administration became concerned for the safety of over a thousand American students attending medical school in Grenada. An attempt was made to bring the students out first on a Pan Am charter, but the plane was refused permission to land. Then, a cruise ship was to pick up the students, but the ship was not allowed to dock. Reagan’s advisors recommended rescuing the students immediately through the use of military force before any hostage taking actually began to avoid the a repeat of Carter's hostage crisis. Reagan was further convinced to act when the small democratic nations surrounding Grenada called for US aid to prevent the formation of a Soviet-Cuban dominated state. On October 22, Reagan made the decision to proceed with the rescue operation. When the US marines landed on the island, a much larger Cuban-organized resistance was present than initially anticipated by the administration. However, reinforcements were flown in and Cuban and Soviet officials, realizing they were about to be overrun, began requesting negotiations. After the students were rescued, the Cuban and Soviet diplomats, along with a large group of Cuban soldiers, were flown to Mexico City, where they could then continue on to Cuba or the Soviet Union. US intervention in Lebanon On June 6, 1982, Israel launched a full scale attack into Lebanon to destroy PLO forces stationed in the country and end attacks across the Israeli border. Although Israel was engaging both Syrian and Lebanese forces, the Israeli army had the PLO under siege in Beirut by the end of June. The siege ended in August with the May 17 Agreement that came as a result of intense efforts by US negotiator Phil Habib. As a part of the agreement, a Multi National Force, consisting mainly of US troops, would remain in the country until a stable Lebanese government could be established in the midst of the long-standing civil war the nation. In addition, Israeli forces would remain in the region to act as a counter-balance to the Soviet backed Syrian forces until both could agree on a time to withdrawal. But, as Reagan’s Secretary of State George Shultz later pointed out, “no Middle East episode ends in complacency.” Syrian president Hafez Assad, desiring to maintain his influence in the region, refused to withdraw his forces, referring to the Arab League’s sanction of Syrian presence in the region. Now, Israel was forced into a waiting game it simply wasn’t prepared to participate in. As Israel causalities as a result of encounters with various Lebanese militant groups mounted, Israel made the decision to abandon the capital and remove its forces to the south of Lebanon. Without Israeli forces protecting the area around Beirut, US marines in the city were now vulnerable. Reagan, backed firmly by the Secretary of State, was determined to remain in Lebanon to set up a stable government and prevent Syrian and Soviet influence in the nation. The situation in Lebanon changed dramatically, however, when a truck full of explosives crashed into a marine barracks and killed 241 US soldiers. Secretary of State Shultz saw “the political handwriting on the wall” and drew up a plan that was approved by Reagan to withdraw a majority of US forces from the capital, but still leave enough marines in the city to “give the government of Lebanon and its army a fighting chance.” Even this, however, was abandoned when Vice President Bush and Defense Secretary Casper Weinberger convinced the president to quickly remove any US presence in the region. Without a US presence, the rest of the Multi National Force soon left as well. SDI In a televised address delivered on March 23, 1983, Reagan first introduced the nation to the idea of developing a system that, over time, could protect the nation from nuclear missiles and therefore make the weapons of mass destruction totally obsolete. The president’s speech called for an “effort to define a long-term research and development program” with the goal that mutual assured destruction (MAD), an idea that Reagan had always abhorred, would no longer be the only thing protecting the American people. Reaction was mixed. While supporters of the idea were intrigued by the possibilities of “an impenetrable shield,” critics sighted technological drawbacks and the possibility that the Soviets could be pressured into a preemptive strike to prevent the deployment of such a system. The negative response from the Soviets certainly encouraged the latter viewpoint. As Secretary of State Shultz later wrote, the Soviets were initially “apprehensive that the president was really onto something.” Gorbachev immediately called for a halt to the development of the Strategic Defense Initiative before any more arms reductions were to take place. At around $200 billion, the cost of Reagan’s original vision proved too great to give the program any serious consideration. Instead, several smaller and less expensive avenues were explored. Over the next ten years, $30 billion dollars spent on research and development yielded no real gains. The few successful tests were discredited by an SDI researcher who claimed the tests were rigged to give the program a better look. Reagan’s defense secretary Caspar Weinberger later implied that the entire program had been created simply to make the Soviets nervous and force them to spend their limited resources on attempts to develop a Soviet defense system. Iran/Contra On July 17, 1979, Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza was overthrown by a variety of forces, including the Catholic Church and some democractic political parties. Democratic states in the hemisphere, namely the United States, were initially hopeful when the coalition promised the first free elections in the country’s history. It soon became apparent, however, that the revolution had been taken by over Communists that favored a Soviet/Cuban government. As discontent toward the new government quickly grew, the Contras formed around former members of Somoza’s national guard. In December of 1981, Reagan made the decision to provide support for the resistance movement. The aid, which came in the form of military equipment, training, and advice, was not necessarily intended to bring about the overthrow of the communist regime in Nicaragua. Rather, the Contras were to distract Nicaraguan forces enough to prevent the nation from interfering with the fledgling democracies in the region. At Reagan’s request, Congress funded the aid for three years. Finally, believing that little progress was being made with the tens of millions of dollars put into the Contras, Congress canceled the aid. Although Reagan was not willing to abandon the Contras, public opinion was against it, and Reagan didn’t want to risk publicly championing an unpopular issue. To replace the lost funding, Reagan first turned to Saudi Arabia. America’s wealthy ally gave the Contras more than $1 million a month. Since Congress had also forbade any intelligence agency from working with the Contras, Reagan had Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North coordinate the effort and advise the Contras. After the election of 1984, Reagan began another operation known only within his administration. The goal of this action was to secure the release of seven American hostages being held in Iran. The US would sell arms to Iran for use in its war against Iraq. In return, the hostages would be released. As funding for the Contras ran dry, North had the profits diverted to a Swiss bank account and later used in to support the Contras. In November of 1986, a Lebanese newspaper published an article exposing the arms shipment to Iran. Congress appointed Lawrence Walsh to investigate anyone involved in the arms sales and/or contra aid. |
Incidents
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