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Great Wall Institute: The Process of the Great Wall of Los Angeles

U.S Invasion of Grenada

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Sir Paul Scoon, Governor-General of Grenada. The army under Hudson Austin then stepped in and formed a military council to rule the country, placing Governor-General Paul Scoon under house arrest. The army announced a four-day total curfew during which anyone seen on the streets would be summarily executed. The Organization of Eastern Caribbean States, Barbados, and Jamaica all appealed to the United States for assistance. Scoon had requested the invasion through secret diplomatic channels, but it was not made public for his safety
Hogtied and hooded, a prisoner is restrained by an American Marine on a grassy landing strip at Point Salines during the US invasion of Grenada. H-hour for the invasion was set for 05:00 on 25 October 1983. U.S. troops deployed for Grenada by helicopter from Grantley Adams International Airport on Barbados before daybreak. Nearly simultaneously, American paratroopers arrived directly by transport aircraft from bases in the eastern United States and U.S. Marines were airlifted to the island from the USS Guam offshore. It was the first major operation conducted by the American military since the Vietnam War.
U.S. troops guarding suspected members of the PRA of Grenada during the Urgent Fury invasion of the island, 1983. The invading forces encountered about 1,500 Grenadian soldiers of the People's Revolutionary Army (PRA) manning defensive positions. The PRA troops were for the most part equipped with light weapons, mostly Kalashnikov-pattern automatic rifles of Soviet bloc origin. The PRA was not regarded as a serious military threat by the US, which was more concerned by the possibility that Cuba would send a large expeditionary force to intervene on behalf of its erstwhile ally.
Members of the Eastern Caribbean Defense Force on route to Grenada, 1983. On 25 October, the combined forces of the United States and the Regional Security System (RSS) based in Barbados invaded Grenada in an operation code named Operation Urgent Fury. The United States stated that this was done at the request of Barbados' Prime Minister Tom Adams and Dominica's Prime Minister Eugenia Charles. The invasion was highly criticized by the governments in Canada, Trinidad and Tobago, and the United Kingdom. The United Nations General Assembly condemned it as "a flagrant violation of international law" by a vote of 108 to 9, with 27 abstentions.
M102 howitzers of 1st Bn 320th FA, 82D Abn Div firing during battle in Grenada, October, 1983. Similarly, the United Nations General Assembly adopted General Assembly Resolution 38/7 by a vote of 108 to 9 with 27 abstentions, which "deeply deplores the armed intervention in Grenada, which constitutes a flagrant violation of international law." A similar resolution in the United Nations Security Council received widespread support but was vetoed by the United States
The United States invasion of Grenada began at dawn on 25 October 1983. The United States and a coalition of six Caribbean nations invaded the island nation of Grenada, 100 miles (160 km) north of Venezuela. Codenamed Operation Urgent Fury by the U.S. military, it resulted in military occupation within a few days. It was triggered by the strife within the People's Revolutionary Government which resulted in the house arrest and execution of the previous leader and second Prime Minister of Grenada Maurice Bishop, and the establishment of the Revolutionary Military Council with Hudson Austin as Chairman. The invasion resulted in the appointment of an interim government, followed by elections in 1984. The Reagan administration in the U.S. launched a military intervention following receipt of a formal appeal for help from the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States. In addition, the Governor-General of Grenada Paul Scoon secretly signaled he would also support outside intervention, but he put off signing a letter of invitation until 26 October. Reagan also acted due to "concerns over the 600 U.S. medical students on the island" and fears of a repeat of the Iran hostage crisis
US Army soldiers arrest two Cubans, one of them an officer, during the US invasion of Grenada, October 27th, 1983. This was the first overthrow of a Communist government by armed means since the end of World War II. The Soviet Union said that Grenada had been the object of United States threats, that the invasion violated international law, and that no small nation would find itself safe if the aggression were not rebuffed.
U.S. Army Sergeant Raymond Cabacar trying to protect civilians during a gun battle with the Panama Defense Force at the Panama Traffic Directorate. December 1989. The invasion of Panama provoked international outrage. Some countries charged that the U.S. had committed an act of aggression by invading Panama. On December 29, the General Assembly of the United Nations voted 75–20, with 40 abstentions, to condemn the invasion as a flagrant violation of international law. On December 22, the Organization of American States passed a resolution deploring the invasion and calling for withdrawal of U.S. troops, as well as a resolution condemning the violation of the diplomatic status of the Nicaraguan Embassy in Panama by U.S. Special Forces who had entered the building. At the UN Security Council, after discussing the issue over several days, seven nations initiated a draft resolution demanding the immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces from Panama. It was vetoed on December 23 by three of the permanent members of the Security Council, France, United Kingdom, and the United States, which cited its right of self-defense of 35,000 Americans present on the Panama Canal.