Reagan apologised to Thatcher for Grenada invasion

Reagan apologised to Thatcher for Grenada invasion
POSTED: 11 Nov 2014 04:35

The US president apologised for any "embarrassment" caused to the British premier, who was not informed in advance about the mission to topple the island state's Marxist government.



LOS ANGELES: Former US president Ronald Reagan personally apologised to Margaret Thatcher when US troops in 1983 secretly invaded Grenada, a Commonwealth island state in the Caribbean, according to newly-released tapes.
The US president apologised for any "embarrassment" caused to the British premier, who was not informed in advance about the mission to topple the island state's Marxist government.

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II is the head of the Commonwealth, a grouping of nations which includes several Caribbean island states such as Grenada.

"We regret very much the embarrassment that's been caused to you," the US leader said during the call in which the famously close leaders referred to each other by their first names.
"If I were there, Margaret I'd throw my hat in the door before I came in," he said to Thatcher, using an old US saying based on a visitor throwing his hat inside a home in case he was unwelcome and it was thrown out. "There's no need for that," Thatcher replied in the 10-minute conversation.

The conversation was disclosed in archive tapes released by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. The call was apparently made as the military invasion was still underway. "We think that the military part of it is going to end very shortly," Reagan said at one point.

More:
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/reagan-apologised-to/1465356.html