Cotton Speech on 40th Anniversary of Invasion of Grenada

Today marks the fortieth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Grenada. This short and largely overlooked conflict is one of the most successful American military interventions in history.

In just four days, President Ronald Reagan toppled an anti-American regime, rolled back communism in the hemisphere, and saved American lives. In the years that followed we built a strong, genuine, and enduring partnership with the people of Grenada. But this success was far from certain. It was only possible because of President Reagan's decisive and overwhelming military response to a crisis on the island.

The seeds of this crisis were sown-like many others-during Jimmy Carter's disastrous presidency. Under President Carter, communism began to metastasize in Latin America and in the especially pivotal year of 1979, both Nicaragua and Grenada fell to communists. As he returned from Managua, Fidel Castro boasted, "now there are three of us." And the Cuban dictator had big plans to add more captive nations to his anti-American axis in the hemisphere.

Grenada is a small island located in the southeast Caribbean-and strategically vital to both Cuba and Soviet Russia during the Cold War. Barely 150 miles off the coast of Venezuela, the island could serve as an offshore arms depot for communist rebels in Latin America and other Caribbean nations.

Russia could also use Grenada as a base to launch submarines into the Caribbean basin.

Most concerning was Grenada's proximity to Africa, which made it the potential final link in a chain of communist air bases from southern Russia to North Africa to West Africa to Grenada, and then finally to Cuba. Soviet bombers and heavy cargo planes could fly between this lily-pad of bases for refueling and largely beyond American detection.

This grave threat materialized when Grenada welcomed hundreds of Cubans to construct a massive airport with a 9,000-foot runway. What Ronald Reagan called a "suspiciously huge" runway was far larger than anything Grenada's commercial aviation required. It was, curiously enough, just big enough to support the largest Soviet bombers and cargo aircraft.

The air base posed a two-way threat. Russia could use Grenada as a launching pad in the hemisphere to arm Cuba and other Latin American communists. Going the other way, Castro could export revolutionaries to the bloody war in Angola and elsewhere in Africa.

Tensions boiled over into crisis in October 1983 when an even more radical, bloodthirsty gang of communists toppled the ruling communists in Grenada. The new government killed the former prime minister and instituted a twenty-four-hour shoot-on-sight curfew that threatened hundreds of American medical students on the island. The Reagan administration feared a replay of the Iranian hostage crisis. And the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States pleaded with the administration to intervene and prevent communism from spreading further in the region.

Within days, Reagan had concluded that we had "no choice but to act strongly and decisively," as he put it, and he authorized an invasion. This wasn't an easy decision; we had only spotty intelligence on Grenada's forces and capabilities and the presence of Cuban or other communist forces, we had little time to execute the mission, and many in Washington still hesitated to use military force due to Vietnam syndrome. But Reagan was undaunted.

Then a disaster halfway around the world threatened to derail the operation. Just after Reagan authorized the invasion planning, a suicide bomber killed 241 Marines in their Beirut barracks. Although heartbroken and enraged by the attack, Reagan didn't let the crisis in Lebanon crowd out the crisis in our backyard. He declared, "there are Americans there and they are in danger. We are going!"

This is an important point. Contrary to liberal smears, Reagan did not authorize the Grenada invasion as cover for his withdrawal from Lebanon or to flex his muscles after the Beirut bombing. He authorized the invasion planning before the bombing happened in Beirut; the historical record is absolutely clear. Unlike Democratic presidents, Reagan didn't act tough to conceal his true weakness. Reagan was tough on America's enemies and tough in defense of America's interests.

On October 25, barely a week after the coup, around 8,000 American troops embarked on Operation Urgent Fury. They had a clearly defined mission: save the endangered Americans, depose the communist regime, and reestablish order on the island.

Our troops had some setbacks, but they adapted, overcame, and prevailed.

The incomplete intelligence and short timeframe for preparation hampered the operation, yet vindicated Reagan's judgment. Military leaders anticipated only 200 Cuban construction workers on the island; in reality, 700 well-armed Cuban soldiers awaited American forces. Our troops also discovered huge weapons caches at the air base, enough to arm the Cuban forces and thousands more communist rebels. Reagan had acted just in time. The war ended after four lopsided days. Our troops took fewer than 150 casualties, while the communists suffered nearly 500 casualties and more than 600 Cubans surrendered. Our citizens on the island were safe.

Reagan hit hard, he hit fast, and America won.

And Fidel Castro's dreams of hemispheric revolution soon turned to ash. Reagan destroyed communism in Grenada and besieged the communist regime in Nicaragua. A year after Reagan left office, Nicaragua ousted Daniel Ortega in a democratic election, made possible by American pressure.

The Grenada operation was the first successful military rollback of communism during the Cold War. We had eliminated a deadly threat on our doorstep. And we had liberated a grateful people, who enjoy freedom and democracy to this day.

Reagan worked to stabilize the island and later traveled there in 1986. Tens of thousands of Grenadians lined the streets and welcomed Reagan as a liberator. Grenada's prime minister described Reagan as "our own national hero" and "our rescuer after God." Reagan passed banner after banner that read "God Bless America" and later wrote that "I probably never felt better during my presidency than I did that day." What Reagan felt that day was the joy of American success, made possible by American strength and confidence.

This success stands in stark contrast to interventions like the one we saw in Somalia ten years later under Bill Clinton. I spoke here three weeks ago to mark the thirtieth anniversary of the battle of Mogadishu. While Reagan delivered a crushing and decisive blow against a regime that threatened American interests, Bill Clinton used insufficient forces for an ill-defined, expansive mission in a nation where our interests weren't at stake. He then cut and ran after the first sign of resistance-emboldening our enemies, including Osama bin Laden.

No two interventions were more different in rationale, execution, or result. And they offer important lessons for today.

The most profound is that weak interventions with vague and self-righteous missions usually fail. Strong military action with well-defined missions focused on America's interests usually succeed.

We must never confuse the United States Army for the Salvation Army. Our military is not a charitable organization and is not a tool of mankind-it is the most fundamental instrument of our national power and ours alone. And it should be used to pursue American interests and American interests alone. It's not the military's responsibility to right every wrong in the world or to be an avenging angel of liberal democracy.

One of America's great statesmen, John Quincy Adams, once wrote that America "is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own." Indeed, he famously observed that America "goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy."

I have to observe, though that Adams wrote that we do not "search" for monsters to destroy. But the architect of the Monroe Doctrine and chief defender of Andrew Jackson's conquest of Spanish Florida was no pacifist. When monsters rear their heads and challenge America, especially in her own hemisphere, America must indeed not hesitate to destroy those monsters.

From Tripoli to Berlin to Tokyo to Saint George's we have done it before and we must be prepared to do it again.

And when we must go abroad to destroy monsters, we must use overwhelming force.

If Washington is unwilling to use the force necessary to win, we ought not use force at all. It is unfair and cruel to both American troops pursuing the mission and to our friends in the nation where the mission is being conducted.

As we look for examples to follow in this new moment of international crisis and chaos we should look to Reagan, not to Clinton. We need more Grenadas and no more Somalias.

On this fortieth anniversary of the invasion of Grenada, I would also like to recognize and thank the veterans of that conflict, along with their families, for their invaluable service. They made our country proud and helped bring communism to its knees in this hemisphere. God bless them all and God bless the United States of America. Thank you.

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