Fare Well, Grenada

Seven weeks after U.S. Navy Seals slipped silently onto Grenada's beaches, starting an invasion that led to the overthrow of the island's unstable Marxist regime, the last U.S combat troops were headed home. On the airstrip at Point Salines, still unfinished, the first ranks of approximately 1,000 paratroopers let out a whoop of welcome as three giant C-141 transport planes, mottled in camouflage colors, hummed into view.

Left behind in the capital of St. George's was a large hand-lettered sign, erected next to an American flag, that summed up the troops' warm feelings toward the island's 110,000 population, many of whom had played host to servicemen in their homes: FARE WELL, GRENADA. THANKS FOR YOUR HOSPITALITY. GOD BLESS YOU. 2/505TH 82ND AIRBORNE.

When the transports touched down at Pope Air Force Base near Fort Bragg, N.C., four hours later, the returning troops were met by a banner-waving crowd. "Let no one tell you you're not in an Army of excellence, because you are excellent," shouted Deputy Under Secretary of the Army John W. Shannon over the din on the rain-drenched tarmac. President Reagan echoed the sentiment in a speech before the Congressional Medal of Honor Society in New York City: "Our days of weakness are over. Our military forces are back on their feet and standing tall."

By week's end a total of about 1,800 men had vacated the island, fulfilling Reagan's promise that all combat troops would be out of Grenada before Christmas. Still on hand are 150 military police and 150 U.S. support troops (logistics, medical and administrative personnel) to train Grenadian security forces. This modest detachment, along with the 396-member Caribbean Peace-Keeping Force, may well provide a necessary sense of order. "People are so scared, so insecure because of how unsettled things are," says Lloyd Noel, a former Attorney General who languished in prison for 2 1/2 years during the regime of former Prime Minister Maurice Bishop. With Grenada's police force whittled to little more than 100 men, the potential for lawlessness and violence simmers just below the surface. Earlier this month, a small band of young men terrorized families living on the main residential road in St. George's for three nights in a row. Says Jamaican Educator Beverly Steele, whose home was attacked during the spree: "This is the aftermath of a breakdown in law-and-order."

Equally precarious is the fledgling government of Sir Paul Scoon, the island's Governor-General. Two weeks ago, Antony Rushford, a Briton who was appointed by the Commonwealth to be Scoon's legal adviser, abruptly left Grenada after attacking the Governor-General as "quite unfit" to help restore democracy to the island. The leaders of Grenada's nine-member interim advisory council, which will administer the country until elections can be held, admit that they may be dangerously out of touch with some of their poorer countrymen who benefited from Bishop's rule. "The revolution's skills were 90% political," says one council member. "Ours are 90% administrative. It's not an easy transition."

Of immediate urgency is Grenada's foundering economy. The island is facing a cumulative public debt of $52.5 million and a current budget shortfall of $3.6 million. The U.S. has earmarked $18.5 million in short-term emergency aid for Grenada. But that amount is perhaps $30 million less than the country was receiving in various kinds of aid from Cuba, Libya and the Soviet-bloc countries. What is more, the controversial airstrip, which the advisory council calls a top economic priority, will probably not get any financial boost from the U.S. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.