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For the moment, however, Grenadians were not worrying much about the difficult tasks ahead. With only an occasional sniper firing at U.S. soldiers from isolated sites, the Defense Department announced on Wednesday that "hostilities have ceased." Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger then ordered the withdrawal of U.S. forces to begin. By week's end the invasion force of 6,000 paratroopers, Army Rangers and Marines had dwindled to about 2,500 men of the 82nd Airborne Division from Fort Bragg, N.C., and up to 500 support personnel. The 400 soldiers contributed by Grenada's neighboring island nations (Antigua, Barbados, Dominica, Jamaica, St. Lucia and St. Vincent) took up routine police duties, patrolling harbors and checkpoints. A task force of six Navy ships, headed by the aircraft carrier Independence, resumed its interrupted mission to relieve U.S. Marines in Lebanon, now carrying troops that had unexpectedly been tested in battle. Declared President Reagan: "Our objectives have been achieved."
For Reagan, the Grenada operation seemed to be turning into a political gain at home, particularly if the pullout continues at a rapid pace. With the serendipitous discovery in Grenada of large Cuban arms stockpiles and documents disclosing secret military agreements between Grenada's former leaders and Cuba and the Soviet Union, the mission, which both Reagan and many Grenadians insisted be called "a rescue" rather than "an invasion," seemed easier to justify. Some of those documents were released by the State Department last week with considerable fanfare.
Fidel Castro's prestige and adventurism in the Caribbean and Central America had sustained a setback. The U.S.'s European allies, who had initially been highly critical of the American resort to military force, began softening their rhetoric as the success of the intervention seemed clearer. The U.N. General Assembly voted 108 to 9 to denounce the U.S. move, but Reagan airily dismissed its action with the quip: "It did not upset my breakfast any." (The White House press office promptly produced Reagan's breakfast menu: one poached egg, fruit, toast, coffee.)