WORLD-RUNNING 2

From Running the World - on the 1983 US invasion ('Operation Urgent Fury') of Grenada, the smallest country in the Western hemisphere - let me stress once again the author's drrrry wit:

Within a week of [Robert] McFarlane's appointment as Reagan's third national security advisor [in 3 years], 243 marines were killed in a terrorist attack on the U.S. marine barracks in Beirut.  Reagan and his team were outraged and made impassioned and touching statements about the loss.  It was time to test the resolve of this team to move past the constraints of the Vietnam era...

Hit hard by terrorists in Lebanon, we effectively did nothing in response.  Instead our attentions were turned elsewhere as the NSC staff was burning the midnight oil planning a response to a coup on October 12 that ousted Grenada's prime minister, Maurice Bishop, and led a week later to violence that resulted in his death and that of several of his ministers.

While McFarlane had been focused on Lebanon, the Grenada issues were being handled for him by Constantine Menges, a true believer and,  until a few days earlier, a CIA employee working for Bill Casey.  Menges didn't much like the new national security advisor, but he did prefer him to the even more moderate [James] Baker.  But the staffer ended up testing his boss by pushing for a meeting of the crisis group.  This meeting took place, chaired by [Deputy NSC advisor Admiral John] Pointdexter.  During the meeting Menges argued that unrest on the island could lead to a greater Soviet presence there, including nuclear weapons.  Recognizing the grave threat posed by a nuclear island resort in the Caribbean, the Reagan team sprang into action...

Thus, the simmering problem in the Caribbean provided the administration with an opportunity to show force in the wake of Beirut without the risks that a response in Lebanon itself would have entailed.  Consequently, almost 6,000 troops were dispatched to Grenada, met slight resistance from a handful of Cuban troops, and took control of the island.  Nineteen Americans died and 115 were wounded, and 8,612 medals were awarded for the operation.  The total cost in military operations and aid was almost $200 million.  America was back.