Grenada: U.S. is pressing for a crack, elite force

Press, 1 June 1984, Page 15

Grenada: U.S. is pressing for a crack, elite force

American military officials in Grenada are planning to train and equip a crack 90-man paramilitaryspecial service unit to take over security duties on the island. It would allow withdrawal of the 450strong United States Caribbean Peace Force based there since last October’s invasion. The unit is also intended to dovetail into the six-nation regional security system now under United States training to give the Eastern Caribbean a capability for mobile intervention in case of internal subversion. So far the special service units under training in St Vincent, St Lucia, Dominica, Antigua, and St Kitts-Nevis have been recruited from the island’s post-British colonial police forces. Only Barbados has regular army units to contribute to the regional force. But British officials, engaged in a three-year programme to retrain the rundown Royal Grenada Police Force, are worried that America might now want to bypass the principle of using trained policemen and recruit directly into the special unit in their haste to fill a potential security vacuum. It is not known how long Jamaica and other Caribbean states can maintain an expensive security presence on Grenada nor for how much longer President Reagan wishes his own military to remain directly involved. In St George’s, United States officials denied any intention to bypass the police system and stressed: “If you don’t start with a properly-motivated policeman, it’s a mistake to give him a gun.” Even so, there is no doubt the Americans have been irritated by

slow progress in rebuilding the Grenada police, most of whose duties in recent years were usurped by Maurice Bishop’s revolutionary army. Despite British police aid totalling more than $400,000 and the stationing of a resident adviser, the programme has been slow because of lack of training facilities and senior officers, difficulties in recruiting suitable personnel, and the exacting standards required by the British system. Yet the Grenada interim government is apparently convinced that this is the standard they prefer. After a two-day visit, the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office overseas police adviser, Bob Bryan, said: “I think they are right to continue to reflect the British view of policing. It's part of their heritage.” For possibly this reason Grenada has yet to give the Americans the final go-ahead to begin training, despite finding a suitable site on the tiny neighbouring island of Carriacou. Most of their senior advisory staff are in headquarters at the barbed wire-enclosed Grenada Beach Hotel for which the United States military has just renewed its lease, until March 1985. On the other East Caribbean islands, the United States have provided three fast patrol boats and tough bush training, plus uniforms, Ml 6 rifles, and jeeps for the special units, each of which is divided into two platoons of 40 men. They are nominally under control of individual police commis-

sioners. but in theory one platoon from each unit, plus an army contingent from Barbados, could be called into action at the request of the leader of a member state. Such action would be co-ordinated by the over-all commander. Brigadier Rudyard Lewis. Last October's events in Grenada. when Maurice Bishop and many others were murdered and his 4 L 2-year revolution destroyed by internal conflicts, gave new life to the regional plan. It had been discussed for years by leaders like the Barbados Prime Minister, Tom Adams, who had watched with unease the growing Cuban and Soviet influence. The United States Congress voted about $1.5 million for regional security but has yet to approve funds to complete the plan. "Had it not been for Maurice Bishop, we’d still be suckering around for the money," said a senior United States officer. The rapid growth of United States influence since October has worried critics of the invasion as well as members of opposition parties in the Eastern Caribbean, who see growing militarism among hitherto relatively unarmed states. While the senior American officers’ response to this is “So what?", a more considered line came from a United States diplomat. “We feel that there’s a consensus among these islands on security and the protection of their democratic institutions to make them support these efforts.” — Copyright, London Observer Service.

From

NICK WORRALL,

in Grenada