Glorifying Grenada: give me a fucking break, here.

[Redstone]

My son just watched a TV show about our "operation" in Grenada that, disgustingly, tried to present that debacle in some kind of "patriotic," jingoistic, "hoo-yah, we BAD" (shades of the "Spanish-American War" -as if the Spanish started it) terms.

Instead, of course, of presenting the truth of the matter: Ronnie Rayguns decided (probably on the advice of Nancy's astrologer) that America needed a dick-size check, so we had to stomp on a vanishingly-small island (not unlike a human stomping on a roach; not exactly a fair fight) in order to prove that WE THE MAN! BOO-YAH! because we didn't have any REAL enemies at the time.

So we manufactured an "enemy." And we sure kicked they' asses, didn't we? You notice that we haven't had a lick of problems given to us by those Evil Commie Grenadians since then, have we?

We sure showed THEM who's the boss. That kinda makes me feel all warm and fuzzy and manly, to be an American. How about you?

Redstone

[unhappycamper]

1. There was also a touchy-feely military movie about Grenada: Heartbreak Ridge.

Give me a fucking break also.

[Redstone]

4. Uh-huh.Although I remember that movie not being so much glorifying as

maybe illuminating the life /career of the Marine Gunny in a period of relative peace (think: pre-World War One, and Two) instead.

Just my impression of that movie. I could be wrong, as I've been known to have been more than once.

Redstone

[hatrack]

9. "Guess we're not 0-1 and 1 anymore." - most puke-inducing closing line EVER

:puke:

[Redstone]

15. Yes, indeed. Despite my defense of that movie, I agree.

Redstone

[AnArmyVeteran]

43. Remember how communication was so bad soldiers had to use Grenada telephones?

In Reagan's mighty military soldiers had such a hard time communicating through military communications equipment they had to use telephones in Grenada.

And remember, Reagan also was the first cut-and-runner because after he sent 241 soldiers to their deaths in Lebanon Reagan ordered the remaining soldiers out of Lebanon. Yes, the great and mighty Reagan cut-and-ran because two suicide truck bombs easily drove right past guards and blew up a building where our soldiers were sleeping. And Reagan is credited for boosting the military strength. And they couldn't even stop two goddamned trucks from going into a barracks full of our soldiers. And remember, Reagan also prevented our soldiers from even engaging the enemy because he tied their hands with very restrictive rules of engagement.

Can anyone guess what the reaction would be if a democratic president had let 241 soldiers be killed in their sleep? Right wingers' heads would explode. But not one of them said a world about their idiotic, braindead Reagan god.

[jwirr]

2. The "war" we fought to cover up Neil Bush's crimes at the Savings

& Loans. What a farce.

[rurallib]

5. I thought it was to erase the memory of the cut and run from Beirut

Whichever, Granada was just what St. Ronnie needed - an ant to step on.
Makes ya' feel like a man donchya know?

[Redstone]

13. Yes. An attempt to wash those Marines' blood from his hands.

Redstone

[alsame]

26. That's how I remember it too. He had to look like a tough guy

after the Beirut fiasco.

[elehhhhna]

30. and thus began the sacred Mepubliccan tradition of

invading the WRONG FUKKIN COUNTRY

[Redstone]

6. Maybeso, indeed.

Redstone

[AnArmyVeteran]

42. Neil Bu$h stole 1 Billion and only paid a $40,000 fine!

Neil Bu$h and six other defendants in the Silverado Savings and Loan in Colorado stole one billion dollars and Neil Bush only had to pay a paltry $40,000. No jail. No nothing. And that one billion just 'vanished'. I remember reading about Neil Bu$h's 'punishment' on page 25 in a Houston paper. It should have been on the front page but because he was a 'Bu$h he was allowed to get away with his crime. And a couple of years later he took $3 million from the SBA and within a year his fake company went out of business and Neil got to keep the $3 million. Why wasn't anything done? Well, for one his daddy was president at the time and the woman who headed the SBA was appointed by his daddy. No investigation. No prison. No nothing.

If only Barbara Bu$h had kept her damned legs together the world would have been spared all of the evil produced from her corrupt sons. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis would still be alive. And over 5,000 American soldiers would still be alive. Yeah, if only Barbara kept her damned legs together. How can she have such a 'beautiful mind' if she produced such evil from her womb?

[malaise]

3. I'll never forget that horrific event

The only thing worse than the imperial bullies were the RW puppets in the region who facilitated the invasion. It's been downhill since for this region.

[HipChick]

7. Interestingly

since that time, Cuba,China have been quietly helping out with building some of actual needed infrastructure

[malaise]

10. Many of my friends were working in Grenada

at the time. I've heard first hand reports.

[MrScorpio]

8. Bingo!

[11 Bravo]

11. A relatively bloodless war, except for the 19 dead US soldiers.

(I can't find figures for the number of dead Grenadians and Cubans.) In any case, clearly a small price to pay to enable the flaccid cock of Ronnie Reagan to become at least semi-hard.

[Redstone]

18. You were "11 Bravo?" I was "Blue 32," once.

Redstone

[Canuckistanian]

19. Casualties and losses

United States:
19 killed,
116 wounded<2>

Grenada:
45 killed,
358 wounded

Cuba:
25 killed,
59 wounded,
638 captured<3>

Civilian Casualties:
24 killed

Many of the US deaths were from "friendly fire" incidents.

[Canuckistanian]

12. Grenada - the military equivalent of beating up your grandmother

And ironically codenamed "Operation Urgent Fury".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Grenada

[Redstone]

17. Damn, you just gave me a good laugh. Although it's no laughing matter.

Redstone

[Canuckistanian]

20. I remember someone saying that at the time

It may have been a comedian.

[malaise]

29. A freaking perfect

analogy :rofl:

[uponit7771]

35. LOMFLAN!!!!!

[KansDem]

14. For those of us who might have forgotten where it is...

[Joe Chi Minh]

48. I've always maintained that a sense of shame is competely alien and mysterious to the far right.

I suppose it's inevitable that they don't notice that other people have a sense of proportion and a moral compass They have no framework of reference for such bafflingly exotic concepts, no mnemonic peg to hang them on.

Imagine not being put in mind of Peter Seller's film, The Mouse that Roared, or that sense of high comedy of a super power attacking a suburb, say, of Liechtenstein or a village in Andorra... or a handful of irregulars in Grenada. Beyond crazy. Is it any wonder the world is in the state it's in, or that Christ inveighed so scornfully against it?

[Ian David]

16. It was because some under-performing wealthy medical students wanted to get out of final exams. n/t

[Redstone]

21. Probably. "Wars" have been fought over less.

Redstone

[LeftinOH]

22. Just 48 hours prior to this, the Marine barracks in Beirut was bombed-

resulting in (IIRC) more than 200 deaths. At the time, the Grenada operation seemed very much like an excuse to "kick some ass".

[Whisp]

23. humpft

and imbeciles here compare Obama to the Rayguns and the Bushs.

psssst: when Obama starts his own personal Grenada, ring me, until then, stfu ;(

(not you Redstone! didn't know where to tag this on! ;)

[Ian David]

25. I think Lichtenstein just looked at us funny. n/t

[mysuzuki2]

33. No,it wasn't Lichtenstein

it was the Duchy of Grand Fenwick.

[Redstone]

27. "Until then, stfu..."? Yes, zip it, indeed. I like how you think.

Redstone

[Whisp]

32. well thank you...

I suppose some like the comparisons and think they are true.

I believe that Bush was a special little feller with a special little corner in hell. But if one wants to believe Obama deserves a spot beside him....


:eyes:

[blm]

24. Reagan/Bush invaded Grenada after marines barrack was blown up in Beirut. They were warned ahead

of time that the barracks should be moved by Dems on Armed Services Com., but they ignored the warnings. Over 200 marines were killed. Then Reagan moved them out and to cover the controversy of their failure to heed advice from Dems, they invaded Grenada and all the news networks lauded his military leadership while they got to broadcast pretty much the entire thing.

[Redstone]

28. Just so. But try to explain that to a rightwinger.

Redstone

[elehhhhna]

31. 3 words, very simple: Cut and Run

[akbacchus_BC]

34. It is not funny that you remembered Grenada, just a nostalgic horrible

experience for me. The US hated Grenada at that time because of Maurice Bishop and Walter Rodney was gaining popularity in Guyana. The US needed to show us that we were not intelligent enough to choose which 'ism' we wanted. Worst yet, Grenada and Guyana were leaning towards socialism and both countries were threats to the US especially since both countries had cordial relations with Cuba and Russia.

That was a horrible time and not to mention some of the countries in the Caribbean who aided the US, the turncoats. They bombed a fricking asylum, still wondering if the US helped to rebuild it! This just makes me see red!

Sorry for the rant.

[Redstone]

37. I know a guy (truth) who lost an eye and a ball in Grenada. I know it's not funny.

No more than Viet Nam was. Or Panama. Or Korea. Or Iraq. Or Afghanistan. Or any of those other places where our sons and daughters, husbands and wives, mothers and fathers, died FOR NOTHING.

Redstone

[Hannah Bell]

36. The U.S. invasion of Grenada and the toppling of its Marxist government

can be seen as part of a greater regional conflict.

This conflict involved the U.S. and its Central American and Caribbean allies on one side and Fidel Castro's Cuba, the Sandinista government of Nicaragua and various Marxist guerrilla armies on the other. President Reagan and his administration were concerned that the Marxist government of Prime Minister Maurice Bishop was allowing Cuba to gain undue influence in Grenada, specifically by constructing a military-grade airport with Cuban military engineers.

On October 13, 1983, the Grenadian Army, controlled by former Deputy Prime Minister Bernard Coard, seized power in a bloody coup. The severity of the violence, coupled with Coard's hard-line Marxism, caused deep concern among neighboring Caribbean nations, as well as in Washington, D.C. Also, the presence of nearly 1,000 American medical students in Grenada caused added concern.

However, along with concern, came opportunity. With President Reagan's worldwide efforts to confront what he viewed as the threat by the Soviet Union and other Communist countries (such as Cuba), the turmoil in the Caribbean provided a timely excuse to eliminate a Marxist government and give Fidel Castro a black eye.

http://www.historyguy.com/Grenada.html

[Redstone]

38. First Grenada, then America. Them dang Commies had a PLAN, didn't they?

Redstone

[H2O Man]

39. Right.

Maurice Bishop was friends with Castro. Oh, dear! He was also friends with Eric Clapton.

The threatening airport being constructed (by Canadians) was not as large as the municipal airport in the town (population 5,000) I grew up in.

[benddem]

40. Guess

they left off the part about how the air strikes had to be called in by cell phone. It was an f'ing disaster.

[Odin2005]

41. That invasion was a fucking travesty.

[MilesColtrane]

44. Yep, those right-wingers like to get their war on. (especially when they know they're going to win)

Grenada was practically repeated 6 years later, when Poppy decided to take out his former employee, Manuel Noreiga, and a couple of thousand Panamanian civilians.

[bluedigger]

45. Hell yeah I remember Grenada.

I almost participated. I was in the 101st, and we were on lockdown for 48 hours waiting for intel. If there had been any Cubans on an outlying island we would have been in it. Seals went in and found nobody home, and we weren't called in. Fine by me, and as close as I ever got to getting shot at.:)

[johnaries]

46. I liked Robin Williams' take on it. "Do you know what's in Grenada?

Sheep! We went to war over sheep!"

[Touchdown]

47. A friend of mine called it The Club Med Invasion.