military invasion of Grenada in which thousands of troops from the United States Army, Marines, Navy, and Air Force were deployed to Grenada and participated in active combat against native Grenadians and Cuban fighters. The United States invasion was authorized by President Ronald Reagan based on the asserted need to prevent a military coup and communist takeover of the small island nation, in addition to the need to protect the approximately 1,000 United States citizens who resided on the island at that time. United States forces achieved a swift victory in just 4 days, but the fighting resulted in the deaths of 45 Grenadian combatants, 25 Cuban combatants, and 19 United States combatants. The last United States troops eventually exited Grenada on June 13, 1985. (9) Panama occupation On December 20, 1989, approximately 27,000 United States troops invaded Panama at the order of President George Bush under the ignominiously named Operation Just Cause . The purpose of Operation Just Cause was to remove General Manuel Noriega, the country’s dictatorial ruler, from power and secure his extradition to the United States, where Noriega was wanted on charges of drug trafficking and money laundering (he was later found guilty on these charges upon his successful extradition). Relations between the United States and Panama’s Government soured over the course of 1988 and 1989 due to Noriega’s antidemocratic behavior and monopolization of power, Noriega’s 1988 indictment in the United States on drug smuggling charges, notably escalating tensions between Panamanian troops and United States troops stationed in the Panama Canal Zone, and United States concerns about maintaining physical control of the Panama Canal Zone. Tensions boiled over on December 15, 1989, when the Noriega-led Panamanian Assembly declared Panama to be in a state of war with the United States. On December 16, an off-duty United States Marine was shot and killed by Panamanian soldiers, prompting President George Bush to order Operation Just Cause in the