LONDON: So sorry we kept it a secret. That was Ronald Reagan’s message to Margaret Thatcher when US troops invaded the tiny Caribbean island of Grenada in 1983 without telling the British leader first.

The American president called the British prime minister as the invasion unfolded to apologise for having kept her in the dark, saying “I’m sorry for any embarrassment we caused you”.

The issue was particularly sensitive because Grenada was part of the British Commonwealth and recognised Queen Elizabeth II as head of state.

Reagan told Thatcher the total secrecy was needed because of fears that a leak — on the American side, not the British one — might endanger the military operation. Thatcher had complained about the invasion, saying it would be seen as Western meddling in the internal affairs of an independent country; Reagan seemed anxious to mend fences with one of the US’s closest allies.

In a secret White House tape made public on Monday after a Freedom of Information Act request, the contrite president tried to joke his way out of the spat. “If I were there, Margaret, I’d throw my hat in the door before I came in,” he said.

Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2014