Bell (2008) "The American invasion of Grenada: a note on false prophecy." (revised)

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"The American invasion of Grenada: a note on false prophecy." (revised)

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CONTRIBUTORS:

Author:

Bell, Wendell (Yale University)

JOURNAL:

Foresight: the journal of futures studies, strategic thinking and policy, 10(3), 27 - 42.

YEAR:

2008

PUB TYPE:

Journal Article

SUBJECT(S):

War, Faulty foresight, Decision-making, Grenada

DISCIPLINE:

Political Science

HTTP:

LANGUAGE:

None

PUB ID:

103-443-381 (Last edited on 2008/06/12 09:23:38 GMT-6)

SPONSOR(S):

ABSTRACT:
The Reagan administration gave three main reasons for the invasion. They claimed (1) that Americans on Grenada, particularly the students attending the St. George’s University Medical School, would be harmed from continuing social disruption on Grenada; (2) that the militarization of Grenada was intended as a means for the future export of terrorism or revolution to its Caribbean neighbors; and (3) that the planned international airport at Point Salines was intended to be a future Soviet-Cuban military base. Each was false. Moreover, the administration's use of the past to justify the invasion was also faulty: the analogy between the hostages in Iran and the medical students on Grenada was erroneous and Grenadians had nothing to do with the bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Lebanon that helped precipitate the American decision to invade. Decision-making includes assumptions about the future and invites the use of foresight. Such foresight, of course, can be presumptively true and, thus, useful. But also it can be wrong, sometimes deliberately manipulated, leading to wrongheaded actions and devastating consequences. An analysis of the 1983 American invasion of Grenada illustrates the power of authority to distort the truth and corrupt morality, processes that re-occurred twenty years later with much greater consequences in the case of the 2003 American-led invasion of Iraq.

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