Angry Allies

Some of the most pained comments on the invasion of Grenada came from the U.S.'s NATO allies. British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher refused to criticize the U.S. publicly, but she let it be known that she had tried unsuccessfully to dissuade President Reagan from taking military action in a former British colony that was still a member of the Commonwealth. The opposition made the most of the issue. During a stormy session of Parliament, Labor Foreign Affairs Spokesman Denis Healey declared that the American rejection of Britain's advice "represents a quite unprecedented humiliation of an ally." Thatcher, he said, had become Reagan's "poodle."

In other NATO capitals, reaction centered on the lack of prior U.S. consultation. Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, also the leader of a Commonwealth nation, said that he was "astonished" by the U.S. reticence. The government of French President Franc,ois Mitterrand termed the U.S. invasion "a surprising action in relation to international law," and said that "the people of Grenada must recover without delay the right to determine their destiny." The government of West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl issued an unusually blunt statement declaring that "if we had been consulted we would have advised against it." In Italy, Socialist Prime Minister Bettino Craxi said that his government "can only disapprove this decision," and added that the U.S. intervention "has dangerous precedents and also establishes another dangerous precedent." In back of all West European minds seemed to be a concern that the sudden U.S. action might add to sentiment against the controversial deployment of U.S.-built Pershing II and cruise missiles on their continent, due to begin in December.

As the shock faded, the allies did their best not to allow the event to stand in the way of hard-won unity on the missile question. Trudeau declared that he was sounding out Commonwealth leaders about a joint peace-keeping force that could replace the U.S. troops on Grenada. The Thatcher government said that it would consider participation in such a venture, and also took pains to deny that the U.S. decision had in any way weakened the alliance. Washington's lack of consultation, said British Foreign Secretary Geoffrey Howe, was "regrettable. But the fact that that has happened does not cast any doubt on the firmness of our commitment to NATO and all that means." This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.