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From: myers@uwvax.ARPA (Jeff Myers)
Newsgroups: net.flame,net.politics
Subject: Re: RE: Reagan's joke
Message-ID: <429@uwvax.ARPA>
Date: Tue, 18-Sep-84 10:56:43 EDT
Article-I.D.: uwvax.429
Posted: Tue Sep 18 10:56:43 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 25-Sep-84 08:38:43 EDT
References: <479@tty3b.UUCP> <1731@sdcc6.UUCP> <5971@mcvax.UUCP>, <1843@ucbvax.ARPA> <234@digi-g.UUCP> <1957@ucbRe: RE: Reagan's joke
Organization: U of Wisconsin CS Dept
Lines: 37


>Whatever you are trying to say, if you think that it was a case of the
>big bad US invading poor Grenada, you are far off the mark. The coup in
>Grenada was a Cuban/Soviet sponsored takeover, and Grenada's neighbors
>were rightly worried about giving Cuba another base from which to launch
>terrorist attacks against them.

You bought Ronnie's disinformation hook, line, and sinker, no?  The fact is
that the Cuban people, and especially Castro, were very enamoured of, and
friendly with Maurice Bishop, who was murdered by the counter-revolutionary
militarists.  Immediately after the coup, Castro bemoaned the fact that his
friend Bishop had been killed and predicted that the US would take advantage
of this excuse (the military takeover) to invade Grenada.

Cuba refused to give any military aid to the military government even tho
it was, of course, requested.  The Cuban workers who were there when Bishop
was killed were ordered to only defend themselves if attacked.

Reagan and his cabinet clearly *lied* about several aspects of the invasion
operation, and it wasn't because they didn't know what was happening.
The biggest lie was that the purpose of the operation was to rescue US
citizens (who were put in danger BY the invasion) -- the "liberation" of
Grenada had been practiced two years before on an island off Puerto Rico.
Also, we occupied the island rather than getting our people off and pulling
out.  Also the stories about large quantities of Cuban soldiers and the
mass grave being found, both lies.  The quantity and distribution of Cuban
citizens was found to be exactly the same as the Cuban government had
reported to Washington.

Yes, the military takeover in Grenada was as reprehensible as that by
f*cking Pinochet in Chile.  However, this was a personal power play by
those involved in the plot (in my opinion).  Why would Cuba or the Soviet
Union threaten the already excellent relations they had with Grenada
when they *knew* that the US (I hesitate to say "we") was spoiling for
a chance to eradicate creeping socialism in all its manifestations?

Jeff Myers