June 2 — In the most sweeping realignment of American military power since World War II, the United States is planning to shift most of its forces from Germany, South Korea and the Japanese island of Okinawa, U.S. and foreign military officials say. The plans, still the focus of intense negotiations and debate among America’s allies and inside the Bush administration, would reorient America’s presence in Europe eastward to Poland, Romania and Bulgaria, and shift U.S. power in the Far East toward southeast Asia, with options for new bases in northern Australia, the Philippines and even Vietnam being explored.
BESIDES CLOSING military facilities that, in some cases, date to the defeat of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan in 1945, these officials say the moves being contemplated would have far reaching implications for America’s relationship with leading powers in Europe and Asia. There currently are some 70,000 American troops based in Germany, 38,000 in South Korea and 47,000 in Japan, about 30,000 of which are crammed onto the tiny island of Okinawa. To varying degrees, and for varying reasons, the presence of so many American troops in each place has become increasingly controversial.
“What’s going on is partly a long-overdue adjustment, and partly a reaction to what is perceived as a very ungrateful attitude toward us in some quarters,” says a senior U.S. military officer, requesting anonymity. “None of these places are ideal for American purposes anymore, and I think the time is just right to do it.”
The combination of new threats, the friction U.S. troops are causing domestically in these countries and a desire on the part of the Pentagon to rethink the structure of the military in general, and in particular the U.S. Army, has convinced the Bush administration that a thorough reconfiguration of America’s overseas presence is in order. While some units could be pulled back to the continental United States, officials say most currently are earmarked for redeployment abroad. Together with the recently announced decision to pullout from Saudi Arabia, the scope of the changes being contemplated are unprecedented.
NEGOTIATIONS AND DEBATES
American officials publicly have denied any concrete plans to move specific units or bases from one country to another. But on Friday, Paul Wolfowitz, the influential deputy defense secretary, confirmed that a complete rethink is underway.
“We are in the process of taking a fundamental look at our military posture worldwide, including in the United States,” Wolfowitz told reporters during a visit to Singapore. “We’re facing a very different threat than any one we’ve faced historically.”
Turning American military strategy away from South Korea, Germany and Japan’s island of Okinawa, three places where American troops fought and died over territory, raises enormous questions. Among the most important, where to put the nearly 150,000 troops currently based in those countries.
EUROPE: TO THE EAST, MARCH
Currently, according to a senior military officer involved in planning these moves, plans call for shifting most of the forces currently based in Germany into three newly democratic nations: Poland, Romania and Bulgaria. The fact that all three stood by the United States in the run up to the recent war in Iraq certainly doesn’t hurt, the officer says. But other officials, some of whom admitted that they favored the moves to send a message to long-time allies, also confirmed that the gist of the planned draw down in Germany dates back as far as the Clinton administration.
The European moves would likely be in phases, according to these sources, with ground forces and some air units moving first, followed by hospital, support and armored forces — all harder to move — at some later date. One officer suggested that several complex American facilities, such as the Ramstein Air Force Base, might continue to operate, perhaps under NATO auspices.
All three potential host countries already have indicated their willingness to accommodate American forces. In April, the Pentagon announced the sale of F-16 warplanes to Poland at knock down prices, ostensibly as thanks for the work Polish special forces troops did in Iraq, but officials say this is part of an ongoing effort to cement U.S.-Polish ties generally.
U.S. aircraft already are using air fields in both Bulgaria and Romania to keep units in Iraq and Afghanistan supplied, and the governments of both nations — eager to win NATO membership next year — have invited the U.S. to establish permanent bases.
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http://www.msnbc.com/news/920065.asp
BESIDES CLOSING military facilities that, in some cases, date to the defeat of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan in 1945, these officials say the moves being contemplated would have far reaching implications for America’s relationship with leading powers in Europe and Asia. There currently are some 70,000 American troops based in Germany, 38,000 in South Korea and 47,000 in Japan, about 30,000 of which are crammed onto the tiny island of Okinawa. To varying degrees, and for varying reasons, the presence of so many American troops in each place has become increasingly controversial.
“What’s going on is partly a long-overdue adjustment, and partly a reaction to what is perceived as a very ungrateful attitude toward us in some quarters,” says a senior U.S. military officer, requesting anonymity. “None of these places are ideal for American purposes anymore, and I think the time is just right to do it.”
The combination of new threats, the friction U.S. troops are causing domestically in these countries and a desire on the part of the Pentagon to rethink the structure of the military in general, and in particular the U.S. Army, has convinced the Bush administration that a thorough reconfiguration of America’s overseas presence is in order. While some units could be pulled back to the continental United States, officials say most currently are earmarked for redeployment abroad. Together with the recently announced decision to pullout from Saudi Arabia, the scope of the changes being contemplated are unprecedented.
NEGOTIATIONS AND DEBATES
American officials publicly have denied any concrete plans to move specific units or bases from one country to another. But on Friday, Paul Wolfowitz, the influential deputy defense secretary, confirmed that a complete rethink is underway.
“We are in the process of taking a fundamental look at our military posture worldwide, including in the United States,” Wolfowitz told reporters during a visit to Singapore. “We’re facing a very different threat than any one we’ve faced historically.”
Turning American military strategy away from South Korea, Germany and Japan’s island of Okinawa, three places where American troops fought and died over territory, raises enormous questions. Among the most important, where to put the nearly 150,000 troops currently based in those countries.
EUROPE: TO THE EAST, MARCH
Currently, according to a senior military officer involved in planning these moves, plans call for shifting most of the forces currently based in Germany into three newly democratic nations: Poland, Romania and Bulgaria. The fact that all three stood by the United States in the run up to the recent war in Iraq certainly doesn’t hurt, the officer says. But other officials, some of whom admitted that they favored the moves to send a message to long-time allies, also confirmed that the gist of the planned draw down in Germany dates back as far as the Clinton administration.
The European moves would likely be in phases, according to these sources, with ground forces and some air units moving first, followed by hospital, support and armored forces — all harder to move — at some later date. One officer suggested that several complex American facilities, such as the Ramstein Air Force Base, might continue to operate, perhaps under NATO auspices.
All three potential host countries already have indicated their willingness to accommodate American forces. In April, the Pentagon announced the sale of F-16 warplanes to Poland at knock down prices, ostensibly as thanks for the work Polish special forces troops did in Iraq, but officials say this is part of an ongoing effort to cement U.S.-Polish ties generally.
U.S. aircraft already are using air fields in both Bulgaria and Romania to keep units in Iraq and Afghanistan supplied, and the governments of both nations — eager to win NATO membership next year — have invited the U.S. to establish permanent bases.
Want to learn even more?
http://www.msnbc.com/news/920065.asp