Bay of Piglets Revisited

CARIBBEAN Bay of Piglets Revisited It was mocked as Britain's "Bay of Piglets," and one war correspondent cabled Fleet Street from the battlefield: "I say, chaps, the natives are friendly." That was two years ago, when then-Prime Minister Harold Wilson sent a company of paratroopers to capture the tiny (35 sq. mi.) West Indies island of Anguilla, a onetime possession cutting loose its British apron strings. The islanders had tried and rejected a British-sponsored association with the neighboring and more economically advanced islands of St. Kitts and Nevis; now they wanted to return to their colonial status. The British would not hear of it, so the plucky Anguillans, 6,000 strong, proclaimed their independence and severed all ties with the mother country. Gravely, Wilson launched "Operation Sheepskin" and sent in troops, later reinforced by 80 policemen. It was the domino theory, Whitehall solemnly insisted. If one territory were allowed to go its own way, all the rest would want to go theirs.

Britain Forever. The troops and bobbies never met any opposition--Anguil-la's most formidable weapon is a barnacle-encrusted French cannon last used in 1796--but British forces have remained on Anguilla ever since the invasion. Their relationship with the locals has been happy. Last year, on the anniversary of Operation Sheepskin, the occupation forces solemnly judged sack races and high jumps at a field day while older Anguillans tacked up signs reading ST. KITTS NEVER--BRITAIN FOREVER. Prime Minister Edward Heath's Conservative government eventually came to the reluctant conclusion that the Anguillans simply would not accept an association with their neighbors, and that colonial status for an unspecified period was the best course for the island. Last week, without opposition, a bill was quietly introduced in Commons to make Anguilla a colony once again.

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