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Pentagon almost through review process of restructuring US forces
Rumsfeld said Army Gen. Leon LaPorte, commander of U.S. forces in South Korea, and others are considering ways to realign American forces on the Korea Peninsula, noting the location of U.S. forces in South Korea and in Europe is a leftover from the Cold War. "We still have a lot of forces in Korea arranged very far forward where it's intrusive in their lives and where they really aren't very flexible or usable for other things," Rumsfeld said.
Now that we have to watch our backs, as well as our fronts, we're not really in such a good spot, now are we?
Rumsfeld said South Korea possesses an economy probably 25 to 35 times greater than North Korea's, adding that the South Koreans have "all the capability in the world of providing the kind of up-front deterrent that's needed."
Pay for it yourself, you ungrateful brats. Now that you mention it, there's a big pile of money that could be better spent somewhere that we aren't right smack in the middle of a freaking mess. Hmmm...glad you pointed that out.
Rodong Sinmun is gonna hate it that Rumsfeld was impolite enough to point out that next to SKor, NKor ain't squat...
"And I suspect that what we'll do is we'll end up making some adjustments there," Rumsfeld said. "Whether the forces would come home ... move farther south on the peninsula or ... move to some neighboring ... are being sorted out. The same thing's true with our forces in Western Europe."
You don't like us, fine, we don't like you much anymore either
Rumsfeld said U.S. officials are consulting with the South Korean government ahead of making a final decision. New South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun has asked the United States to study the bilateral relationship. The presence of American troops has become increasingly controversial.
And their withdrawl will become even more controversial for you, ya Mooh-hyun!
White House and defense officials last month said the United States was considering shifts in global military deployments, including the thousands of U.S. troops in Europe. About 70,000 of the nearly 110,000 U.S. troops in Europe are in Germany, a vocal foe of a possible U.S.-led war against Iraq.
We have some NEW Europe friends that we'd rather play with now.
Having 110,000 troops in Europe is ridiculous, ten years after the end of the Cold War...
Rumsfeld did not state when a decision would be made, but said the Pentagon is "almost through the process of looking at our force structure" around the world. He added that whatever changes would not change that "we are engaged in the world (and) we care about assisting our friends and allies."
That would be our real allies, not our pretend ones.
Posted by: Becky 2003-03-07
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=11008