01-11-2004, 12:37 AM
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#1 (permalink)
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Psycho
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US military forces leaving Germany
Quote:
Posted by Telegraph | News
The United States plans to withdraw its heavy armoured formations from Germany next year, in the largest reshaping of the European military landscape since the end of the Cold War, it emerged yesterday.
The historic plans are part of a drive to turn the American military into a more flexible, rapid reaction force.
They have been in gestation since long before the Iraq war, and Washington officials insist they are not punishing Germany for opposing the toppling of Saddam Hussein.
The decision to move all US armour home marks the end of the Cold War era when huge tank armies backed by millions of troops and thousands of aircraft readied for war in the heart of Europe.
Following the withdrawal of Russian troops from Germany, in 1994, America's pull-out would leave Britain the last foreign power with heavy armour on the plains of Germany. Britain maintains a force of some 23,000 troops there.
Douglas Feith, the Pentagon's top policy official, told German counterparts last month that America will start pulling out heavy ground forces late next year, eventually withdrawing up to 40,000 men from Germany by 2006, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Units will return to the US, although Washington plans new bases in Poland, Bulgaria and the Baltic States through which troops would move to future trouble spots.
Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, has led an aggressive campaign to reshape the military for the new, less predictable, conflicts of the war on terror.
The changes aim to close many of the sprawling bases that span the globe from Germany to South Korea - many of them mini-Americas, complete with schools, hospitals, shopping centres and suburban housing estates.
Instead, Mr Rumsfeld wants troops to rotate through a global network of small bases, deploying to hot spots at short notice, and picking up equipment and supplies pre-positioned at storage sites.
Although many Germans will cheer the departure, there is no concealing the impact the American pull-out will have on their nation, politically, economically and even psychologically.
The rumble of American armour has been a backdrop to life in Germany since 1945. The two units earmarked for withdrawal - the 1st Armoured Division and the 1st Infantry Division - are steeped in European history.
The "Old Ironsides", as the 1st Armoured is known, landed in North Africa in 1942, fought German forces the length of Italy, and entered Germany as part of the allied occupation in 1945.
The "Big Red One", or 1st Infantry, fought the Kaiser's armies in the First World War under General Pershing, and helped drive Hitler's troops from France and Belgium.
Some important US facilities will remain in Germany, including the giant Ramstein air base, the US European Command headquarters in Stuttgart and a military hospital near Hamburg.
Russia has raised concerns about the arrival of large numbers of US troops in Poland and the Baltic states, ostensibly because such arrivals might violate Cold War era treaties on American troop strengths in Europe.
The Pentagon believes that careful juggling of European bases will avoid breaking those treaties.
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'bout time. |
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