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Another informant was given a special telephone number to use whenever he wanted to relay sensitive information to Ambassador Milan Bish in Barbados. But when the informant tried the number, he was brushed aside with the claim that the ambassador was too busy to talk. Another
Grenadian contact, who had urgent news about the recent arrival of hundreds of Cubans, was told to stop by the Barbados embassy. The Americans did not believe him when he protested that this would jeopardize his identity because the embassy was under surveillance by Grenadian informants.
The lack of solid intelligence did not endanger the mission; the U.S. employed more than sufficient military manpower to overcome even the highest estimate of Cuban strength. Nonetheless, said a State Department official, "Grenada came too close to our worst-case scenario. The top brass can see how hard it would be to do on a bigger scale."
Was the invasion worth all the risks?
Clearly, Washington had resorted to force before seriously weighing or testing other options. The U.S. was also on shaky legal ground in sending forces into another nation, even at the request of Grenada's worried island neighbors. In the hemisphere, that revived the old charges that America was a bully, bent on working its will with military rather than moral might.
Still, Cuba had interfered blatantly in Grenada's affairs long before the U.S., and there had been a cry for help from the island's neighbors. To reject that plea would have made the U.S. seem weak and untrustworthy in a tune of trouble. President Reagan's contention that "leftist thugs" had terrorized Grenada's residents was all too accurate. If the U.S. withdraws quickly and a stable democratic government is established in Grenada, the end result will cast the U.S. effort in a more favorable light. It should silence critics who so shallowly compared the invasion with the occupation of Afghanistan by more than 100,000 troops for nearly four years. Indeed, the relief and joy among Grenadians last week belied any glib claim that America had set out with guns to force its will upon a free people. —By Ed Magnuson. Reported by Bernard Diederich and William McWhirter/St. George's