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West greets East as US abandons ’Old Europe’
The Pentagon, driven by resentment over "Old Europe's" opposition to the war in Iraq, is accelerating plans to move tens of thousands of US troops out of Germany to the former Eastern bloc countries of Hungary, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria. The first concrete evidence of the shift is the movement of the army's 17,000-strong 1st Armoured Division, most of which went to Iraq from bases in Germany but will not return there, military officials said. That's news to me, anyone else hear about this? The plans are the most significant reshuffling of US forces in Europe since the end of World War II, when American troops moved into Hitler's army bases to protect the new West Germany from Soviet ambitions. With the Pentagon's recent expansion across Central Asia, the move into Eastern Europe means the US military will span the globe as never before. "If you want to talk about suns not setting on empires, you know, the Brits had nothing compared to this," said John Pike, an American defence analyst. Bwahahahaha! More than 112,000 US soldiers are based in Europe, 80 per cent of them in Germany. Not for long. But with some Western European nations increasingly reluctant to house US troops and with formerly communist countries signing up for NATO and eager to host the Americans, Pentagon officials say change is imminent. The move also is being driven by the vision of Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for a leaner, faster military. With its clear military supremacy, the Pentagon feels free to flex its muscles with little regard to the diplomatic consequences of moving into Russia's backyard or leaving the impression of snubbing Germany. Details of precisely how many troops will be pulled out of Germany and where they will go are not yet decided. Posted by: Steve 2003-05-02 |
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