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Some of the Caribbean cor respondents who resented the restrictions that kept them out of Grenada also disapproved of the scene they helped create. Said Liz Trotta of CBS: "Viet Nam was a real war for real correspondents. This is ridiculous, to see the press becoming part of the main story. Why should anyone expect the U.S. military to take 400 reporters with them on an invasion?" Commented Jim Minter, executive editor of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "A military operation like this is not the World Series."
At least one White House official shared the concerns of the press. He was Les Janka, 43, a six-year veteran of the National Security Council staff who last summer became President Reagan's deputy press secretary for foreign affairs. Like his boss, Press Secretary Larry Speakes, Janka had not been told in advance about the Grenada operation; thus when White House correspondents asked them about rumors of an impending invasion, they both denied the story. Janka drafted a candid letter of resignation, but before he could send it, White House officials accused him of telling the Washington Post that Speakes was also thinking of quitting. After the press secretary demanded Janka's resignation, Janka released his letter of protest: "This week's events in the Caribbean have damaged, perhaps irreparably, [my] credibility."
Janka was a relatively junior official and his departure a minor matter, of course.
But to TIME White House Correspondent Laurence I. Barrett, assessing the state of relations between press and presidency, the incident pointed up "the tension and friction generated by the Administration's very poor handling of the press-coverage issue. Since the early days of the Administration, the White House has suffered episodic difficulties in establishing and maintaining its credibility, and it has a consistent history of attempting to impede coverage of national security affairs. Friction between the White House staff and the press corps is usually fleeting, but this time the damage may be lasting."
Back at the airport in Barbados, one sweltering day last week, Air Force Captain Keith Graham leaned across the counter before him. He was wearing camouflage fatigues that looked as though he had slept in them. In his best parade-ground voice, Graham bellowed, "Anybody want to go to Grenada?" An old Barbadian woman who was trying to sweep up the debris of pizza crusts and paper cups gave Graham a toothless smile, but she offered no answer.
Neither did anyone else. For the first time in a week, the press room had no more reporters in it.
"Well," said Graham, "I guess everyone who wants to go to Grenada is there." —By Otto Friedrich.
Reported by Thomas McCarroll/New York and Peter Stoler/Barbados