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Lebanon
and Grenada President
Reagan spoke
to the nation on live television on October 27th, 1983 regarding the
bombing in
Lebanon and the liberation of Grenada. [the portion of the speech below came after
the part on
barracks bombing in Lebanon that killed over 200 Marines] With
patience and firmness, we can help
bring peace to that strife-torn region—and make our own lives more
secure. Our role is to help the Lebanese put their country together,
not to do
it for them. Now, I know another part of the world is very much on our
minds, a
place much closer to our shores: Grenada. The island is only twice the
size of
the District of Columbia, with a total population of about 110,000
people. Grenada
and a half dozen other Caribbean
islands here were, until recently, British colonies. They're now
independent
states and members of the British Commonwealth. While they respect each
other's
independence, they also feel a kinship with each other and think of
themselves
as one people. In
1979 trouble came to Grenada. Maurice
Bishop, a protege of Fidel Castro, staged a military coup and overthrew
the
government which had been elected under the constitution left to the
people by
the British. He sought the help of Cuba in building an airport, which
he
claimed was for tourist trade, but which looked suspiciously suitable
for
military aircraft, including Soviet-built long-range bombers. The
six sovereign countries and one
remaining colony are joined together in what they call the Organization
of
Eastern Caribbean States. The six became increasingly alarmed as Bishop
built
an army greater than all of theirs combined. Obviously, it was not
purely for
defense. In
this last year or so, Prime Minister
Bishop gave indications that he might like better relations with the
United
States. He even made a trip to our country and met with senior
officials of the
White House and the State Department. Whether he was serious or not,
we'll
never know. On October 12th, a small group in his militia seized him
and put
him under arrest. They were, if anything, more radical and more devoted
to
Castro's Cuba than he had been. Several
days later, a crowd of citizens
appeared before Bishop's home, freed him, and escorted him toward the
headquarters of the military council. They were fired upon. A number,
including
some children, were killed, and Bishop was seized. He and several
members of
his cabinet were subsequently executed, and a 24-hour shoot-to-kill
curfew was
put in effect. Grenada was without a government, its only authority
exercised
by a self-proclaimed band of military men. There
were then about 1,000 of our
citizens on Grenada, 800 of them students in St. George's University
Medical
School. Concerned that they'd be harmed or held as hostages, I ordered
a
flotilla of ships, then on its way to Lebanon with marines, part of our
regular
rotation program, to circle south on a course that would put them
somewhere in
the vicinity of Grenada in case there should be a need to evacuate our
people. Last
weekend, I was awakened in the early
morning hours and told that six members of the Organization of Eastern
Caribbean States, joined by Jamaica and Barbados, had sent an urgent
request
that we join them in a military operation to restore order and
democracy to
Grenada. They were proposing this action under the terms of a treaty, a
mutual
assistance pact that existed among them. These
small, peaceful nations needed our
help. Three of them don't have armies at all, and the others have very
limited
forces. The legitimacy of their request, plus my own concern for our
citizens,
dictated my decision. I believe our government has a responsibility to
go to
the aid of its citizens, if their right to life and liberty is
threatened. The
nightmare of our hostages in Iran must never be repeated. We
knew we had little time and that
complete secrecy was vital to ensure both the safety of the young men
who would
undertake this mission and the Americans they were about to rescue. The
Joint
Chiefs worked around the clock to come up with a plan. They had little
intelligence
information about conditions on the island. We
had to assume that several hundred
Cubans working on the airport could be military reserves. Well, as it
turned
out, the number was much larger, and they were a military force. Six
hundred of
them have been taken prisoner, and we have discovered a complete base
with
weapons and communications equipment, which makes it clear a Cuban
occupation
of the island had been planned. Two
hours ago we released the first photos
from Grenada. They included pictures of a warehouse of military
equipment—one of three we've uncovered so far. This warehouse contained
weapons and ammunition stacked almost to the ceiling, enough to supply
thousands of terrorists. Grenada, we were told, was a friendly island
paradise
for tourism. Well, it wasn't. It was a Soviet-Cuban colony, being
readied as a
major military bastion to export terror and undermine democracy. We got
there
just in time. I
can't say enough in praise of our
military—Army rangers and paratroopers, Navy, Marine, and Air Force
personnel—those who planned a brilliant campaign and those who carried
it
out. Almost instantly, our military seized the two airports, secured
the campus
where most of our students were, and are now in the mopping-up phase. It
should be noted that in all the
planning, a top priority was to minimize risk, to avoid casualties to
our own
men and also the Grenadian forces as much as humanly possible. But
there were
casualties, and we all owe a debt to those who lost their lives or were
wounded.
They were few in number, but even one is a tragic price to pay. It's
our intention to get our men out as
soon as possible. Prime Minister Eugenia Charles of Dominica—I called
that wrong she pronounces it Dominica—she is Chairman of OECS. She's
calling for help from Commonwealth nations in giving the people their
right to
establish a constitutional government on Grenada. We anticipate that
the
Governor General, a Grenadian, will participate in setting up a
provisional
government in the interim. The
events in Lebanon and Grenada, though
oceans apart, are closely related. Not only has Moscow assisted and
encouraged
the violence in both countries, but it provides direct support through
a
network of surrogates and terrorists. It is no coincidence that when
the thugs
tried to wrest control over Grenada, there were 30 Soviet advisers and
hundreds
of Cuban military and paramilitary forces on the island. At the moment
of our
landing, we communicated with the Governments of Cuba and the Soviet
Union and
told them we would offer shelter and security to their people on
Grenada.
Regrettably, Castro ordered his men to fight to the death, and some
did. The
others will be sent to their homelands. You
know, there was a time when our
national security was based on a standing army here within our own
borders and
shore batteries of artillery along our coasts, and, of course, a navy
to keep
the sea lanes open for the shipping of things necessary to our
well-being. The
world has changed. Today, our national security can be threatened in
faraway
places. It's up to all of us to be aware of the strategic importance of
such
places and to be able to identify them. Sam
Rayburn once said that freedom is not
something a nation can work for once and win forever. He said it's like
an insurance
policy; its premiums must be kept up to date. In order to keep it, we
have to
keep working for it and sacrificing for it just as long as we live. If
we do
not, our children may not know the pleasure of working to keep it, for
it may
not be theirs to keep. In
these last few days, I've been more
sure than I've ever been that we Americans of today will keep freedom
and
maintain peace. I've been made to feel that by the magnificent spirit
of our
young men and women in uniform and by something here in our Nation's
Capital.
In this city, where political strife is so much a part of our lives,
I've seen
Democratic leaders in the Congress join their Republican colleagues,
send a
message to the world that we're all Americans before we're anything
else, and when
our country is threatened, we stand shoulder to shoulder in support of
our men
and women in the Armed Forces. May
I share something with you I think
you'd like to know? It's something that happened to the Commandant of
our
Marine Corps, General Paul Kelley, while he was visiting our critically
injured
marines in an Air Force hospital. It says more than any of us could
ever hope
to say about the gallantry and heroism of these young men, young men
who serve
so willingly so that others might have a chance at peace and freedom in
their
own lives and in the life of their country. I'll
let General Kelley's words describe
the incident. He spoke of a "young marine with more tubes going in and
out
of his body than I have ever seen in one body." "He
couldn't see very well. He
reached up and grabbed my four stars, just to make sure I was who I
said I was.
He held my hand with a firm grip. He was making signals, and we
realized he
wanted to tell me something. We put a pad of paper in his hand—and he
wrote Semper Fi." Well,
if you've been a marine or if, like
myself, you're an admirer of the marines, you know those words are a
battle
cry, a greeting, and a legend in the Marine Corps. They're marine
shorthand for
the motto of the Corps—Semper Fidelis—"always faithful." General
Kelley has a reputation for being
a very sophisticated general and a very tough marine. But he cried when
he saw
those words, and who can blame him? That marine and all those others
like him
living and dead, have been faithful to their ideals. They've given
willingly of
them selves so that a nearly defenseless people in a region of great
strategic
importance to the free world will have a chance someday to live lives
free of
murder and mayhem and terrorism. I think that young marine and all of
his
comrades have given every one of us something to live up to. They
were not afraid to stand up for their
country or, no matter how difficult and slow the journey might be, to
give to
others that last, best hope of a better future. We cannot and will not
dishonor
them now and the sacrifices they've made by failing to remain as
faithful to
the cause of freedom and the pursuit of peace as they have been. I
will not ask you to pray for the dead,
because they're safe in God's loving arms and beyond need of our
prayers. I
would like to ask you all—wherever you may be in this blessed
land—to pray for these wounded young men and to pray for the bereaved
families of those who gave their lives for our freedom. God
bless you, and God bless America.
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