American troops to be pulled out of Grermany

We also left thousands of yanks in your cemetaries. May they rest in peace.

Have you ever heard of diplomacy? You must remember it as a concept of the pre-Bush years.

As i have stated, those calling themselves the Libertarian Party do not nearly represent even a significant portion of those who identify themselves as Libertarians. If you wished to associate yourself with the Libertarian Party, you would at least know the agenda of the impotent political organization of your choice.

Besides, having troops throughout the world makes it easier to cycle forces quickly to hot spots, not to speak of a deterrence to terrorism. And it costs less to move them.

Besides tearing up old alliances is not a smart move in the realpolitik world.

Oh yeah..Walk softly but carry a big stick. Diplomacy without a stick is what Chamberlain espoused.( Puhleeze, no inference to WW II is meant).

Those whom you ID as "small l libertarians" cannot necessarily be characterized as you suggest. Many of them object to paying taxes, and claim that currency issued by the Federal Reserve is illegal.

I am suggesting that there is world of difference between how you choose to define the "small l libertarians" and how those whom i have met in my life see themselves.

I suggest you're talking through your hat.

I can only devoutly hope that you do ignore me in future.

US Military to Keep European Command in Germany


Wald says new troops will come to Germany

The US plans to maintain a key military presence in Germany even after it completes its troop restructuring. Three new brigades will come to Germany despite plans for a broad withdrawal of Cold War-era deployments.

Senior US commander General Charles Wald said the United States will keep its European Command in Germany, adding three new brigades -- a new, mobile brigade using lighter Stryker armored vehicles, a paratrooper brigade, and an expeditionary brigade. Each brigade will number between 3,000 and 5,000 troops.

"The real issue is not the percentage of troops leaving, so much as there will still be a significant capability left here, and it will be transformed to be more mobile, more light, and more responsive," Wald said at a news conference at European Command headquarters in Stuttgart.


Wald also said some bases in Germany, such as the Ramstein air base in the west of the country, would be expanded, despite plans to withdraw some 30,000 troops currently stationed here. Another base at Spangdahlem, home to two US F-16 squadrons, will remain as well, Wald said.

US President George W. Bush announced the withdrawal on Monday, as part of plans to completely restructure US military deployments around the world to better fight terrorism.


Stryker location to be decided

Wald said the location of the Stryker brigade still needs to be negotiated with the German government, though there are rumors that it will be based at the US training range near the Bavarian town of Grafenwöhr.


The withdrawal of thousands of soldiers from the two heavy divisions in Germany -- the 1st Armored based in Wiesbaden and the 1st Infantry based in Würzburg -- will not happen before 2006, so that the views of the German government can be heard, Wald said.

The news of the withdrawals caused dismay in many of the communities that evolved around the US army bases, as the livelihoods of many German residents depend on the soldiers' presence.

So Walter, was sachs du? What's your take?

They've been icons of America's Cold War military posture for 50 years: thousands of Army soldiers and marines standing guard at the edge of the still-tense Korean demilitarized zone, making sure the North Korean Army knows that the path to Seoul is blocked by U.S. military might. But sometime in the next four years, those troops will be gone. Indeed, the process has already begun. This month, one brigade began heading to Iraq. The rest will move southward, out of the range of North Korean artillery, where they will become a different kind of fighting force.
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Making big waves

The era of the large-scale, permanent American presence in Asia and Europe may be approaching its twilight. Last week, President Bush announced a plan to pull back 70,000 of the 278,000 troops stationed in Germany, South Korea, and other overseas bases. Over the next decade, under this plan, those units would return to the United States and then begin a rotation of short stints in austere camps in places like Bulgaria or Uzbekistan--closer to the world's trouble spots.

In the hothouse environment of a national political campaign, Bush's proposal drew immediate fire. Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry and his allies condemned the plan as politically motivated, irresponsible, and ill-timed and said it would sow doubts about America's intentions rather than projecting strength; Republicans fired back that Kerry's own ideas are outdated. The rhetoric was perhaps inevitable, but in reality, the skirmishing is part of a much larger, longer, and more substantive argument about the future of the American military. And the outcome of that debate is likely to have a profound effect on how America projects its power in a rapidly changing world.

Bits of the Bush plan are already moving forward. The State Department has begun the complex negotiations over where, precisely, the new bases will be located. And, at least in Korea, the Pentagon has already begun moving personnel. On a small scale, sending troops from Korea to Iraq--and then home--replicates the Pentagon strategy in 1991, when hundreds of thousands of troops stationed in Germany went to fight in the Gulf War and then returned home to the United States when the fighting was over. Some administration officials believe the United States missed an opportunity to reorganize military bases when it drew down American forces in Europe by 240,000 in the years after that war. "If we were truly visionary, we would have done then what we are doing now," says Air Force Gen. Charles Wald, the deputy commander of America's European forces. "But better now than never."

In a broad sense, the Bush administration wants a military that is leaner and quicker. Although traditionally the U.S. Army has deployed in large divisions, today it emphasizes the brigade, a group of 3,000 to 5,000 soldiers. In some respects, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's vision of transformation would make the entire Army more like the special operations forces, which function in small groups with light equipment. Such units have played a key role in Afghanistan and are on the front lines of the war on terror. Now, to ensure a lithe enough force to confront new enemies, Rumsfeld and top military leaders believe the Army must wean itself from massive, permanent, overseas bases. "We need to be in more places and better respond to the new threats," Wald says. The United States hopes to open a spartan base in southeastern Europe, perhaps in Romania or Bulgaria. Leaders also want a new facility in Azerbaijan to help respond to threats in the Caucasus region.

Leaders also want a new facility in Azerbaijan to help respond to threats in the Caucasus region.