U.S. To Withdraw Up To 70,000 Troops From Europe And Asia

by Jean-Louis Doublet
CINCINNATI, Ohio, Aug 16 (AFP) - The United States will withdraw up to 70,000 troops from Europe and Asia over the next decade in a move to meet the new threats facing the world, President George W. Bush said Monday.
Germany will bear the brunt of the biggest US military reorganisation in 50 years with two army heavy divisions -- numbering about 30,000 troops -- to be brought home and replaced with a brigade of about 3,600, defence officials said.
The United States has already announced plans to withdraw some 12,500 troops from its 37,000-strong contingent in South Korea.
Bush said the United States wanted "a more agile and flexible force" and that between 60,000 and 70,000 troops would return to the United States along with about 100,000 civilian employees and families of soldiers.
An administration official said the changes will take seven-to-10 years to carry out.
"For decades America`s armed forces abroad have essentially remained where the wars of the last century ended in Europe and in Asia," Bush told a convention of US veterans in Cincinnati as he presses his campaign for the November 2 presidential election.
He said the current US force posture was designed designed to counter Soviet aggression but added: "The threat no longer exists."
"We`ll move some of our troops and capabilities to new locations so they can surge quickly to deal with unexpected threats. We`ll take advantage of 21st-century military technologies to rapidly deploy increased combat power."
Bush promised the United States would retain "a significant presence overseas," but also that the changes "will reduce the stress on our troops and our military families."
Military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq have stretched the US military, but Bush reaffirmed the US commitment to finish the campaigns.
He said there would be savings from base closures but officials were unable to give figures.
The United States has been working on the reorganisation for more than three years.
Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has stepped up calls for change since the September 11, 2001 attacks, which unleashed the US "war on terror".
There are currently about 70,000 US troops in Germany. But the 1st Armored Division and the 1st Infantry Divisions -- each with about 15,000 troops -- will pull out of Germany some time after 2006 and be replaced with a Stryker combat brigade of 3,600, senior US defense officials said Monday.
Both tank-heavy divisions held the line against the Soviet Union during the Cold War, but have proved slow to deploy in fast-moving crises from the Balkans to Iraq.
The Stryker brigade is a new high-tech unit of armored vehicles designed to deploy quickly aboard C-130 aircraft. A US-based Stryker brigade is now in Iraq.
The United States will continue to have bases in Germany, Rumsfeld said. But it wants to rotate US-based troops through a network of lightly manned "forward operating locations," rather than permanent bases.
The United States has about 230,000 troops permanently based abroad -- a figure which does not include US-based forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the administration.
There are about 117,000 forces in Europe and Africa, 98,000 in the Asia-Pacific region, mainly in Japan and South Korea, and the rest on postings in the Middle East and in the Americas.
Germany is home to the US European Command and the proposals have been watched warily because of the economic impact.
"The United States has informed Germany in several rounds of consultations -- the latest on May 28 -- about the state of planning on adjustments being made after the end of the Cold War and in light of new global challenges," a German foreign ministry spokeswoman said.
Reports have spoken of moving some troops to Poland or Romania in eastern Europe, but an administration official said details could not be given while negotiations are still being held.
"Our current base structure was built on the Cold War notion that that American forces would fight where they are deployed. That has not been true for a long time," said the official.
"Terrorism and weapons of mass destruction have changed that threat."
US Democrats called the plan ill-conceived and a political ploy to boost Bush`s bid for re-election.
The announcement drew scathing criticism from former NATO commander Wesley Clark and ex-ambassador Richard Holbrooke, two senior advisers of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.
Clark said the plan would "significantly undermine US national security".