Grenada 30

From the Stars and Stripes:
"Grenada: 30 years after US invasion, wounds, mystery remain"

Some call it the intervention. Others refer to it as the invasion. Officially it’s known as Thanksgiving Day — the anniversary of the morning 6,000-plus U.S. soldiers landed on the sandy beaches of an almost forgotten speck in the eastern Caribbean to oust a Marxist regime that had executed the island’s charismatic left-wing prime minister. But 30 years to the day American troops arrived to restore calm, the people of Grenada are still searching for peace. “I don’t think as a nation we have done enough to facilitate national healing,” said Anne Peters, who survived the Oct. 19 executions that sparked the U.S. military involvement ordered by President Ronald Reagan. Peters, a teacher, was with Prime Minister Maurice Bishop in his final hours. Bishop had been placed under house arrest by members of his political party but later freed by demonstrators, Peters among them. Together Bishop and the demonstrators took control of the military barracks —where Bishop and members of his cabinet were later lined up against a wall and shot. “On that morning they [the U.S. troops] came, I didn’t really care who came, whether they were from Jupiter or from Mars,” said Peters, who was shot during the attack. “I just needed to be relieved of the pain and suffering. But then I said, ‘You came, did what you had to do and now leave us alone.’ ” Like many in Grenada, Peters has mixed emotions about the United States. She observes Oct. 19 — the day of Bishop’s execution — but has no plans to be among those commemorating Oct 25. But in a country where many do not know the fate of their loved ones who went missing during that fateful time, healing and reconciliation have not come easy. “There is still a lot of pain, a bitter memory,” said Shirma Wells, a spokeswoman with the committee in charge of Friday’s official commemoration. “It’s very fresh and it comes renewed.” Like in years past, Grenada will mark the day as an official holiday. There will be a church service, wreaths will be laid and there will be visits to the island’s cemetery. Joining islanders will be local government officials and some of the U.S. soldiers who came to protect American students attending a medical school in the island and free the islands’ 100,000 citizens, who had been put under a 24-hour curfew by a military council after Bishop’s death.

^ Grenada wasn't just about helping the American students, but stopping another communist country in America's sphere of influence. We did not want another Cuba so close to home and so we did what needed to be done and stopped it. It's interesting to note that Queen Elizabeth 2 is also Queen of Grenada and strained relations with the UK and the US - even though technically the UK and Grenadian monarchies are supposed to be separate (like Canada, Australia, New Zealand, etc.) It was not just the US who participated in the invasion, but also many Caribbean countries - many also part of the British Commonwealth.) I don't understand why the people of Grenada can't "come to terms" with what happened 30 years ago - we came in, kicked the Cubans out and then left ourselves. Seems pretty clear-cut. ^

http://www.stripes.com/news/americas/grenada-30-years-after-us-invasion-wounds-mystery-remain-1.248996