Citation Needed - The US Invasion of Grenada

Episode Date: July 7, 2021

The United States invasion of Grenada began at dawn on 25 October 1983. The U.S. and a coalition of six Caribbean nations invaded the island nation of Grenada, 100 miles (160 km) north of Venezuela. Codenamed Operation Urgent Fury by the U.S. military, it resulted in military occupation within a few days.[9] It was triggered by the strife within the People's Revolutionary Government which resulted in the house arrest and execution of the previous leader and second Prime Minister of Grenada Maurice Bishop, and the establishment of the Revolutionary Military Council with Hudson Austin as Chairman. The invasion resulted in the appointment of an interim government, followed by democratic elections in 1984. Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you’d like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here.  Be sure to check our website for more details.

So then the multiverse, which is caused by Wanda's powers, is gonna bring in the TVP, bam, that'll be Wanda, and then Dr. Stranger then Loki, they're all there for some. It sounds super bad and boring. I know it is, it is and it's gonna be. It's really bad. Clear! Hey, hey, Cecil, what's with the army guys? Ooh, are we finally doing a gang bang? Because you guys need to tell me, I am not tri- Oh, hey, Cecil, what's uh, what's with the army guys? Ooh!

Oh, are we finally doing a gang bang? Because you guys need to tell me, I am not tri- Alright, give me a second. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, noals in the studio? Okay, so you know this week's episode, right? Inversion of Grenada. Okay, mouth is stretched, who is first? Yeah, okay, so how does this relate to Grenada? So we're thinking it might help prevent that kind of thing in the future if we just occasionally

let the Navy Seals invade the studio. You, Mr. Frownyface, you first, mouth is stretched. Want some of this? Just ignore him. Yeah, they kick in the door, we surrender, you know, happens every couple of months. Just keeps everybody happy. Okay. No takers, okay, then I guess I'm going to choose.

Eany, meany, mining, Eli! Hedgehog. The Navy Seals are here for military stuff. They are definitively not here to fuck you. Okay, that might not be what they came here for a Cecil, but that is what they are doing now. And there they go. They're gone. Oof. Sure. Cowards.

Thanks. Hello and welcome to Citation Needed! Podcasts where you choose a subject, read a single article about on Wikipedia and pretend we are experts. Because this is the internet, and that's how it works now. I'm CSO, and I'll be commanding this invasion, but I need my Chiefs of Staff. So here they are, General Contractor, General Royal Utility, and General Hospital, Tom, Heath, and Eli. Okay, the other option was to be a subcontractor, and that's just not how I put this.

You're a dumb contractor. I'm a math is my one and math. Okay, I got a lot of questions. When people fuck on those hospital shows, it seems like they wouldn't have time to grab a condom. So like, are they raw-dogging it? These are the questions. Chose don't do that.

Nobody's asked. All right, patrons. Cecil, you're the MC. Do you have it all squared away? Oh! Oh! Well, do you the MC. Do you have it all? Patrons. Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh,

Do you wear comics? You got it. You got it. Patrons, your generalosity keeps us flush in MREs. And we salute you. If you'd like to learn how to sign up for the citation needed patron army, be sure to stick around till the end of the show. With that in the way, Eli, tell us what person place thing, concept phenomenon or event we'll be talking about today. Well, Cecil, at the suggestion of patron Dan is his version of a diary. We're talking about the US. Crushed it. Maybe that. Crushed it. We'll be talking about the US invasion of Grenadio.

We're all going to mispronounce it. Grenada, Grenada, which one is it? Which one? It's Grenada. Yeah. Well, I was the first to get it. It's not what he likes it. Grenada or Grenada, I will accept. So Tom, you're gonna read something Noah wrote for you.

Are you ready to have to sigh at yourself? Quack. So Tom, what was the invasion of Grenada? Are you ready to have to sigh at yourself? Quack. So Tom, what was the invasion of Grenada? So Grenada. Huh? Grenada. Tom, it's a Noah essay. All right.

So first, a little background, that's more like it. Yeah, it is. Grenada is an island nation. Fowl. Okay. All right. All right. I promised him. Grenada is an island nation about 100 miles north of Venezuela.

It's actually the 11th smallest sovereign nation. And that's on a list that counts shit like Vatican City and Monaco. The whole country is about 135 square miles, so if it was an American city, it would be the 69th biggest, right between Philadelphia and Vegas. If we measured it by population, it wouldn't even make the top 250.

To be clear, it is a tiny, tiny place. The history of the island begins in Pylacene Epic, where a bunch of submarine volcanoes feed out huge piles of earth sperm for a few hundred thousand years. All the volcanoes in the area are extinct today with one exception, and it's awesome name is the only reason I bring up islands origins at all. That and Noah is quite literally making me read this.

I wouldn't start with the geological origins. Anyway, a few miles north of the Grenadian coast, there's an active submarine volcano called Kickum Jenny, which is rated 4.3 star. That's five on Google Maps, despite being 600 miles below the ocean's surface. Okay, I actually looked into this. That score would be a lot higher if you don't count multiple people who said,

quote, two wet warning stuff. Wait, Ben Shapiro? Hey, naming people, pro tip, don't give your volcanoes cutesy names because they all erupt eventually and murder people. And the only thing that you can control in there is how often the news has to talk about the devastation and loss caused by the boopsy, dupe,sy volcano. So, who is something normal? Anyway, the island is first inhabited about 3600 years ago when native South Americans made

their way across the hundred miles or so of open ocean between there and Venezuela. But it doesn't show up in written history until 1498. Christopher Columbus spots it during his third voyage to the new world. He never actually landed there, but that didn't stop him from naming it. He called it La Concepcion, and although that was a reference to the Virgin Mary, it's still kind of like naming it the island of fucked, so the name didn't stick. A later map by America's namesake, a miracle of a Spucci, had the island marked with the name Maya, but in the 1520s had the island marked with the name Mil, but

in the 1520s some Spanish maps started using the name Grenada, which became La Grenada when the French colonized it in 1649. And then Grenada, when the British took it from them, at the end of the seven years war. Christopher Columbus just going island to island to drive buys with flag javolins, just dibs and everything. So Tom, what you're saying is that the Spanish couldn't hold the mail. Oh, what are we letting Eli do? Did we have a moratorium on this?

Cecil's got it. It's my own. That's unacceptable. Just to lead him. So for the next 150 years, Grenada remains a British colony until a radical Grenadian politician with a spectacular name of the Ophilius Albert Mary's show started to agitate for more local power in the island's governance. This led to a series of concessions by the British government aimed at finding out just how

little they could offer the natives to get them to calm the fuck down. So like in the 1920s, the crown colony was governed by a 15 man legislative council. And the crown's big concession was to allow the locals to elect five of those 15 members. And if that sounds overly generous to you, don't worry, they restricted the vote to only the island's wealthiest individuals. Of course. In all, they gave this damn near symbolic vote to less than 4% of the populace. Oh no, glad that doesn't happen anymore. And none of them were allowed to vote on Sunday. Still, the juggernaut of independence was rolling. And in 1951, they held their first general

election on the basis of universal adult suffrage. By 1974, they were granted independence. Ultimately, they opted to remain a member of the British Commonwealth. So technically, Queen Elizabeth remained their monarch, and she was represented by a local governor general appointed by the Crown. But for all intents and purposes, Grenada would be self-governing from that point forward. Well, except for the swans, they did not own their swans. And I feel like that's gonna fast. That's gonna cause a problem coming up.

Grenada's first prime minister was a labor agitator named Eric Gary. Gary was the founder of the Grenada United Labor Party. And yes, they used the acronym Gulp, which started as a labor union and eventually became the island's dominant political party. Gary was Gulp, conspiracy-rich. Union eventually became the island's dominant political party. Gary was a conspiracy. Gary was already serving as the premier at the time. So after a quick change of title and a bit of updated stationery, he became the newly independent nation's first prime minister. Okay.

Sorry, prime minister. What do you mean the entire country is on its 15? How can a whole country, you know, it's fine. Of course, the British Empire generally didn't leave newly independent colonies in great shape to thrive under self rule, especially not when those countries were full of people of color. The early years of independence weren't great for the average citizen, so opposition parties started to thrive over the next couple of years.

His main opposition was a Marxist Leninist party called the new jewel movement, or NJM, led by a revolutionary named Maurice Bishop. In 1976, the two went toe-to-toe in the general election, and at the end, Gary claimed victory, but the NJM refused to accept the results. Can you imagine it? The loser of an election refusing to concede. Huh. Just let it sink in. Just going to give it a minute. Just take some time. They needed a pillow guy. So in the wake of the contested election, you end up with violent clashes between the NJM and Gary's private army, the Mangaus. I know.

You're looking for a name that sends fear through enemy's hearts, change it to Canadian goose gang. That'll scare the fuck on everybody. We got Hickum Jenny volcano, the Mangaus gang. Are we sure this is a country and not like a YA novel? So the state of affairs is not. Monk bitches are bad ass though. They can kill like cobras, right?

They're the ones that like eat poisonous snakes really easily. They do, they do attack cobras. Yeah, but this is, it's still a terrible name for your gang. Sorry, venomous snakes. Don't email me assholes venomous on. Yeah. Poison, you all know what I meant. Poisonous venomous. Poisonous venomous.

Dis on communication words. Fuck you in advance. So the state of affairs goes on for a couple of years until March 13th of 1979, when Gary made the mistake of leaving the country long enough for Bishop to lead an armed revolution and oust his government. In a bloodless coup, Bishop oust Gary in establishes the people's his government. In a bloodless coup, Bishop Ousgary in establishes the people's revolutionary government. Now, you might think it wouldn't much matter to global politics, who is running a country of 90,000 people, but this was during the time of the Cold War. Bishop named his eldest son,

Vladimir Lenin Bishop, and Grenada is merely 1,500 miles from the U.S. coastline, which is what Americans think of as close by. Bishop runs Grenada, but then he makes the mistake of the American people electing Ronald Reagan. Yeah, a lot of countries full of brown people made that mistake. The world of Jimmy Carter at Walter Montell. So boring, but amazing. So much fucking better. So boring, but amazing. So much fucking better. God. That's one of those time machine moments, like John Conner's fight in cyborgs in the future

to eventually deal with the Reagan thing and go back with that. Now, this is probably hard for most people in this country or indeed the world to believe, but there was actually a time when America wasn't at war with anybody. Why? In fact, I know, by the time Ronald Reagan took office in 1981, it had been a half a dozen years since the U.S. had engaged in any major military operation. And the United States, not using its military to kill any brown people for six whole years, is such an odd circumstance that it literally has a name.

Historians call it Vietnam Syndrome. You see, after we finally wrapped up the pointless death fest that was the Vietnam War, the American public expressed a strong public preference for peace over military action. And I swear it is no exaggeration to say that one of Ronald Reagan's main goals as president was to fix that. He was desperate to find some little country's ass he could kick, so he could put an end to all that damnable piece. Yeah, our foreign policy was basically walking down the hallway blocking freshmen and going the other way.

Okay, but what are we supposed to do with all our money? Heath, create an educational industrial complex. You hear a stupid that sound? So stupid, yeah. That sounds amazing. Sounds boring and amazing like Mondale. More Jimmy Carter. So Reagan's first effort to pick a fight in Grenada centered around the point, saline's

international airport. There was an airport on the island called the Pearls Airport, but its runway was too small to land commercial aircraft, and it was hemmed in by mountains on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other, so it couldn't be extended. So as far back as 1954, when the island was still a British colony, there were plans to build a larger airport elsewhere that could have a full-size runway. The plans were on hold for decades, but once Bishop took over, he made point salines a priority.

If you asked him, he'd have told you it was because the only chance Grenada had it, a decent economy, was tourism. And the only chance they had it, tourism, was to have an airport that accommodates commercial jets. But if you asked the Reagan administration, it was so those damn commies could land the largest Soviet aircraft there to disperse missiles and weapons and and and communists. Okay, we're focused on the airport from fucking wings. Meanwhile, Robert Hansen at the FBI is selling the nuclear football to Russia for a three-month

lease on a hand-dum-dum-dum-dum. We got sun zoos so fucking bad. So bad. In March of 1983, Reagan started sounding the alarm about the threat of Grenada's new airport. Reagan's doom crime got so vitriolic in fact that a Democratic congressman named Ron Delums went to Grenade on a fact-finding mission, only to report the quote, based on my personal observations, discussion, and analysis of the new international airport under construction in Grenada, it is my conclusion that this project is specifically and has always been for the purpose of economic development and it is not for military use.

It is absurd patronizing and totally unwarranted for the United States government to charge that this airport poses a military threat to the United States national security. Republicans keep going after tropical places. They're going to have no place to retreat in the winter when electricity takes you shit in Texas. But if he didn't title that report, the deal with the airline food, he missed a huge opportunity. Despite the obviously commercial nature of the airport, Reagan kept beating the drums of war about it, but a new much shinier Cassus Belli showed up in October of 83. His name was Muhammad Ali Tom, Lord respect.

Come on. Terrible. This one started when Grenada's deputy prime minister Bernard Cored seized power and put Bishop under house arrest. When news gets out about that, Bishop supporters erupt in protest and Bishop manages to escape. Soon after, he was captured and executed by a firing squad of soldiers, along with his partner, who was the Minister of Education, and four other cabinet ministers and union leaders. At that point, the military realized they were the ones with the guns.

So the deposed court placed Governor General Paul Schoon on her house arrest, and declared that they were in charge, and they would kill the fuck out of anybody who said otherwise. Okay, so I'm assuming Ronald Reagan's about to make one of those little fingers circles below the waist and then punch grenade in the face when they look at it and blow up whatever. At this point, some of the nearby Caribbean nations get a little nervous. Barbados, Jamaica, and the organization of Eastern Caribbean states appeal to the US for assistance. And even though that didn't amount to a legal justification for invasion, it was all the

excuse Reagan needed. Within 24 hours of the request, the US military is mobilizing for the mission to invade Grenada, named with typical American pomposity, Operation Urgent Fury. That's what he like, operation urgent fury. That's what he like all shitting. I'm really shitting. Don't you do that. Don't you take that from me.

Don't do my fucking. Well, we're gonna make like Ronald Reagan and consult a psychic on whether or not to continue this episode, but we'll leave you with little operation apropos. Oh, it's nothing. It's nothing. It's nothing. It's nothing. It's nothing. It's nothing. It's nothing. It's nothing. It's nothing. It's nothing.

It's nothing. It's nothing. It's nothing. It's nothing. It's nothing. It's nothing. It's nothing. It's nothing.

Mr. President, thank you for coming. Sure thing, Chagy. Glad to be here. I hope you don't mind if I don't shake hands. I don't touch communists. Um, sure. So listen, Mr. President, it's obvious that there's some unnecessary tension between our nations.

And I am here to assure you that there are... Whoa, you heard him, he's here to shoot me. Wow, this means war. Let's all get our planes in our tanks. No, no, no, no, Mr. President, I assure, assure, like, like make confident. That's your word. I sure You never make me a con you read bastard. What no, that's not what I'm I'm not saying you hear that You just called me a gnome. You'll never stand up to the might of the USA Mr. President

It's obvious you're trying to start a war with our nation and using any excuse to do it. This is shame on you. This is awful Uh prime minister. Uh, Prime Minister? Yes, what is it? It's just, it's just that Ron has terrible dementia. I make a poopsy. Oh, I see. OK. All right.

We are going to invade you, though. Unrelated. Oh, beans. When we last left off, America was basically Ben Affleck from Days Then Confused with an F-14 for a paddle. What happened next? Did we win? To find win. All right, so I feel like I should admit a front that I've never invaded a Caribbean nation.

And I'm sure it's much harder than others. And it's not even sure I'm reading this because Noah wrote it. I've invaded several Caribbean nations. When they say all inclusive, God damn it, they better mean it next time. So like, I'm going to criticize the hell out of all the shit the US military managed to do wrong and their strained efforts to invade an area that's size of Fresno, California. But to be fair, I want to concede in advance that I would probably be even worse at invading Grenada.

I don't concede that. Oh, don't sell yourself short, buddy. I've seen the damage you can do it and all you can eat but fat. See, you could have- I could crush grenade. All inclusive. So keep in mind that this is all being. I will crush grenade a person like on time.

This is my real voice. So keep in mind that this is all being planned at breakneck speed. Maurice Bishop was killed on October the 19th. The invitation that ostensibly prompted this came on the 22nd. The invasion happened on the 25th and while Reagan had been talking about intervention and Grenade for at least seven months, they hadn't gotten far enough along in the planning stages to do stuff like have good maps.

Seriously, they planned this invasion during using tourist maps. There were one step up from placemats. All right, we just follow the maze and come uh, communist guys at the big red X. Right? Got it. They had no topographical information. Major features were omitted. Some areas weren't drawn to scale and newer shit like the point saline's airport were mostly

hand drawn onto them. And I'm not just talking about the maps they had during the planning stages, I'm talking about the maps that pilots would wind up using to drop bombs on shit. Guys, I haven't seen a hand drawn castle half the size of the island. This map thing is real though. The American team was deploying from Fort Bragg in North Carolina. And they realized like the night before that they had no maps of Grenada. I what the fuck? So they had some guy drive to downtown

faith or near Fort Bragg and buy literally tourist maps. They had that and they had a copy of the economist as their entire end for this retirement. All right, men, let's be careful because apparently they've got a giant 400 foot mouse who needs help fighting his cheese on their side. That's right here at the bottom. Next to the fish sticks. Now to their credit, the US did try to get some more up to date information before the invasion.

Two days earlier, they sent out a team of Navy SEALs on a reconnaissance mission at Point Salines, but the helicopter dropped one wrong. Four SEALs drowned right away and the rest of the team flooded their boat trying to evade Grenadier and patrols and had to abort the mission. The following day, another SEAL mission was sent out, but had it cut things short due to harsh weather. But intelligence be damned, The show must go on. So H hour for the invasion was set for 5 a.m. on October the 25th. The seals got eaten by Grenadian orcas.

But before we get into the invasion itself, we just spend a second on the disparity of force here. The US would ultimately send in some 7,000 American troops, along with 300 troops from various allied nations nearby. They had four tanks, three destroyers, two frigates, an aircraft carrier, an ammunition ship, 27 F-14A Tomcat fighter jets, and a metric fuck ton of helicopter. Okay, we had 7,000 troops and we were like, you guys better give us like 300 more, because this is serious.

Okay. And who gave us like five troops at a time? One of those troops. Grenada has so few troops that the wiki comparison adds in the three Libyans in 14 Bulgarians that fought on their side. So America looks like less of a bully. Suffice it to say the US forces outnumbered the Grenadians better than three to one, and their side has zero tanks, destroyers, frigates, aircraft carriers, ammunition ships, and fighter

jets. Okay, admittedly that does sound one sided, but you know what they did have? Matt. Matt's somewhere that they were fighting. Now on day one, there were three main objectives. The 75th Ranger Regiment needed to capture the point saline's airport so they could land reinforcements on the island. The eighth Marine Regiment had to capture Pearls airport so nobody else could land reinforcements

on the island. And in addition to all that that there were about 600 American medical students attending St. George's University and other forces were deployed to rescue them before anybody could think to make hostages out of them. There were also three noteworthy, but more minor objectives. Seal Team 6 was sent to capture Grenada's radio station for siop purposes. A task force set out to capture Richmond Hill Prison where a lot of political prisoners were being held, and another Seal Team was sent to rescue Governor General A task force set out to capture Richmond Hill prison where a lot of political prisoners were being held, and another CL team was sent to rescue Governor General Schoon who was

still under house arrest. Okay, a lot of that makes sense, I guess. The radio station part is weird. That's a weird part of the plan, like we wanted everybody to really understand the economic theory behind the invasion, and we were doing, I talked on the radio. Yeah, I mean, it helped that we had tanks and they didn't, but the real game changer heath was playing born in the USA for a good party. That's what everyone was like. Fuck yeah.

The fuck is that? Who's things born in the USA? I feel like a reference to like a popular musician or something. U.S. forces managed to capture the airports without too much resistance, but they had less luck securing the American medical students. Their maps were shit, so a Ranger patrol ended up driving all over the place trying to find the campus, and along the way they were ambushed, and four American soldiers were killed. When they finally got to the campus, they only found 140 of the 600 plus they were looking

for. And in a, your princess isn't another castle movement. The students explained that there was actually a second campus in a place called prickly bay. And apparently they were so frustrated by that news that they completely forgot about a squad of 11 Rangers and just left them behind when they took off. So those poor motherfuckers had to escape on a little rubber dinghy and roll their way back to the nearest destroyer. They're rowing. They look at their goofy map, guys. We have to take a hard left and we see a gigantic sea serpent and the words there be monsters here. The mission to take over radio free Grenada wasn't exactly a resounding success. This seals actually captured the radio station unopposed because

why the fuck would the military be guarding the radio station? They destroyed the radio station unopposed because why the fuck would the military be guarding the radio station? They destroyed the radio's transmitter, which seems counterproductive if your goal is to use the station for siaps, but that was the plan apparently. As soon as armed Grenadier enforces showed up, the seals had a hall ass out of there and they wound up swimming back to the same destroyer as those army rangers that got Kevin McAllister back to the house. They're just rowing back. Dude, I can't believe they forgot about us. We had to row back to the boat.

That's the worst. You guys got a fucking boat. The mission to rescue governor general schoon was a bit more successful, but only a bit. Seals show up to his mansion, expecting to have to fight through a whole bunch of opposition forces to get to him, but they just got in there on a post

because the Grenadian forces realize they were coming and just said, okay, everybody hide until the Navy Seals are inside the mansion. We already have under siege. So they did. And then they had the governor general and a bunch of Navy Ses trapped in the fucking house. Now they would eventually get out along with Scoon and his family, but it would take the help of a few AC 130 gunships,

a seven-course-air strike planes, and a H1 Cobra attack helicopters. And even then, it would take them a full 24 hours. Okay, I think they tricked us into an escape room, mansion, something like an escape mansion. And I'm pretty sure all the clues are about nothing. It's just they're not related to it. It's actually pretty funny because we spent a lot of time on these clues and they don't mean, and they send the bomb stuff. That's what they send. I'm sorry, the helicopters and the boats and the blah, blah, blah, blah, they were waiting to be called

on just passive aggressively sitting off the coast. Well, I want you to want me to be in the war. Now I'll come. But the biggest fuck up for the US forces came in their raid on Richmond Hill prison because their maps didn't have topographical information. They didn't realize until they got there that the prison was on a steep hill with nowhere for a helicopter land. And because they had virtually no reconnaissance going in, they also didn't know that the

prison was protected by several anti-aircraft guns. All right, guys, I'm reading the economists' latest issue. There's nothing about giant guns. I think we're I'm reading the economists latest issue. There's nothing about giant guns. I think we're good. We just fly right in. I think we're fine, right? So while they're fucking around looking for a place to land, an anti-aircraft gun lands on one of the helicopters for them. The other one lands alongside it to protect the survivors, but the pilot was already dead. That's just bad journalism time. Sorry guys. I thought the steep mountain side was just artistic license on that long

John Silver's menu. No, they have that. The entire invasion was a series of deadly errors and fuck-ups because the maps were so shitty and inconsistent and because the communication between the various branches of the military was so bad, more than once, US forces ended up calling in air strikes on other US forces. And at one point, a US bomb, a US plane bombed a mental hospital and killed 18 civilians, with their numerical advantage, plus the fact that the opposition literally had no air force or navy whatsoever, made it all but impossible to fail.

So three days, 19 dead American troops, 69 dead Grenadian and Cuban troops, and 24 dead civilians later, there was no more organized resistance. And no radio nailed it. But here's what actually happened with the siop thing. Apparently, the big siop was just a leaflet that we had, and we even managed to fuck that up. It had two different typos on it. It said, citizens of Grenada,

take every precaution to ensure you're safe to this fellow with an eye instead of an E, like assholes. And it also said, do not interfer with two assters. Interfer. Interfer. On top of the typos, it had a confusing part that said, help us avoid accidentally injuring you by taking the steps on the reverse side and I read that I'm an idiot so I was like step on the bottom of the stairs

How would it be safer if that made sense? I don't understand it was the flip side of the it was too cited brochure Yeah, so what they needed Actually was clippie. So it looks like you're trying to write a side The legality of the invasion has been hotly debated since the day it started But let me just say at the outset that this isn't a complicated question A lot of very talented politicians worked really hard to try to tease some complexity out of it But here's the standard. According to the UN Charter, member states can use military force in two instances. One is when they were attacked by another nation. You heard him, everybody. Tom thinks Israel

did nothing wrong. I'm reading this for Noah. This is what Noah thinks is real. The other is when it's approved by the United Nations security council. So the question of whether this was a violation of international law is really just a question of whether the UN Security Council approved it and they didn't. So this was absolutely a violation of international law. And in case that wasn't clear, the UN held a vote on it and agreed that it was a violation by a margin of 108 to nine. Of course, those other eight. So one of the nine was us probably, right? Who were those other eight? They were like, yeah, it was cool.

Oh, fucking fine. Jamaica, Barbados, a handful of curators. The one who sent those 300 troops to go with our right. That's it. Of course, Reagan didn't give a fuck about international law. When I was about the UN resolution condemning him and the horse he rode in, he just said, quote, it didn't upset my breakfast at all. End quote. What mattered to him was how the thing played out domestically. And it turned out that after all those years, a feeling like a bunch of Nambi-Pambi losers,

whose military lost to the Vietnamese, the American people by and large, really liked seeing their military kick some ass again. Even if it was against the 11th smallest nation on earth, and they managed to make it look like the outcome was in doubt for a while. Right. Time magazine described this invasion as having broad public support, and though they didn't back that up with whole numbers, the support was at least broad enough that a lot of politicians

that initially opposed the invasion were quick to reverse their position. Hey, guys, how do we feel about our yakety sex invasion of that country that was smaller than Tampa? I'm going to say broadly approve. Okay, we don't really approve apparently. Stamp it. Does anybody have a fucking map though? No, we'll figure it out later.

It's fine. We'll pick up a copy of the fucking economists. We'll just hover over things and point at them. Of course, some American politicians joined with virtually the entire rest of the world in condemning it, including the Congressional Black Caucus, presidential candidate Jesse Jackson, and then mayor of Burlington, Vermont, Bernie Sanders, who joined more than 50,000 people in DC for an anti-war march a few weeks later. Yeah, that sounds like some great people right there.

But it's about a year later, Reagan won reelection in the largest landslide in American presidential history. So fun. Despite Reagan's dismissive rhetoric, ultimately the US did capitulate to UN demands and slunk out of the island nations somehow simultaneously beating our chests and tucking our tails between our legs. And because Grenada is a commonwealth nation, it actually put the UK in the awkward position of having to find an excuse not to go to war with the US over it, which they were technically obligated to do. Ultimately Margaret Thatcher supported the action in public, but private communications with Reagan that were released later showed she was furious

about it. But despite what an embarrassment the operation was, both internationally and militarily, Reagan still used it to declare an end to the Vietnam Syndrome. After very nearly getting their asses kicked by a country whose population at the time was rivaled by modern day Kenosha Wisconsin, Reagan declared the quote, our days of weakness are over. Our military forces are back on their feet and standing tall." And as to the airport that ostensibly sparked Reagan's interest, well, in 2009, it was officially renamed the Maurice Bishop International Airport on what would have been his 65th birthday. And Tom, if you'd like to summarize Noah's essay in one sentence, how would you do it?

That we all have at least one more reason to be glad we didn't go to war with Russia. Are you ready for the quiz? Absolutely. Quack. Yep. All right, Tom, which of the following is the best video game about Ronald Reagan being a garbage human being. Whoa. Hey, president evil. That is so perfect.

It's perfect. Be grand theft autocrat. Oh, so amazing. Ron Contra. That was a good one. We knew that was coming. That was a good one. Or D.

I killed a ton of people by ignoring AIDS because I'm a horrible person. Fucking Fortnite. Whatever. Whatever. Oh, my amazing, he's the problem. Oh, it's gotta be D. Fortnite is the devil. That's it.

I wouldn't say that was why it's D, but yes, it was D. No, did I miss the, it's Fortnite. I feel like you missed the thrust of the, the, the, the is correct. The is correct. It's what I got out of it. Tom, what's the best slogan for a Ronald Reagan presidency? A, a rising apartheid lifts all boats.

B, crack how delighted cannot stand against itself. C, laughing all the way to the bankruptcy or a more perfect union buster. Oh, I mean, but Cecil, you hit it out of the park with the first one, arising a partied lifts all, but that is true. We support it. So catch a visit. The wrong side is South Africa. All right, Tom. What was the posthumous nickname for the invasion of Grenada? A, the bay of this little piggy went to market. B, such a stretch.

What is happening here? Are we making a pop? Are we making a pop? Why do we let him do this? Why do we do this? No, you do the one answer joke does it by how did you like it? Thing Ask questions about any I'll do you see man for you I'm not a man. I'm not a man. I'm not a man. I'm not a man. I'm not a man. I'm not a man.

I'm not a man. I'm not a man. I'm not a man. I'm not a man. I'm not a man. I'm not a man. I'm not a man. I'm not a man.

I'm not a man. I'm not a man. I'm not a man. I'm not a man. I'm not a man. I'm not a man. I'm not a man. I'm not a man.

I'm not a man. I'm not a man. I'm not a man. I'm not a man. I'm not a man. I'm not a man. Team minus day is good. Team minus day is good. Team minus day is good. Yeah, they get where C, the massacre of my lie spelled and why I like he, D. Nobody say anything when he does that one. Operation,

Harlarocha, Barbarossa. No, that's not. Wow. That's close. What, I didn't even get it it. It's even if it was Barbara Rosa, I still don't get it. All right, D minus day was almost good. Red, D minus day. Incorrect. Oh, Eli, why don't know why you win? Someone wrote it down that you won. That's crazy.

I win. And you know what? I want Cecil to ren an essay. Fine. It will be something that you ought to write upon for at the end. All right. Well, for Tom, not know, Eli and Keith, I'm Cecil. Thank you for hanging out with us today.

We'll be back next week. And by then, I will be an expert on else. Between now and then showplug. And if you'd like to help keep the show going you can make a per episode donation at patreon.com slash citation pod. Or you can leave us a five star of you everywhere you can. And if you'd like to get in touch with us check out past episodes connected on social media. Or check the show notes. Be sure to check out citationpod.com. It's not going to work.

And if you want to fuck Eli you can become a $200 patron. I'll fuck you for $200 bucks and I'll just stop. I'll go really live here bitch. I will never forgive you. I will under bid that. Because the unique sense for me to do that. 199. I would have loved somebody to say another number. It's my name.

And from there, we'll take the beach front. Move up the coast and establish rights. Sound good, Mr. President. I'm a choo choo train. Okay. I'm going to take that as yes.