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Ramstein Air Base move âwonât happenâ
Can you feel the ground shifting under your feet? The Germans can...Closing the US air force base at Ramstein in Germany is "inconceivable" and is "not going to happen", the commander of Nato forces said. Marine General James Jones, who also commands US forces in Europe, said the nucleus of irreplaceable forces will remain where they are, including Ramstein Air Base, which lies about 140 kilometres southwest of Frankfurt. "It is inconceivable to me — and anyone else — that you would close Ramstein and move it 500 kilometres to the east and rebuild it," Jones told reporters at the Pentagon. "Thatâs simply not going to happen." The Pentagon is reviewing the placement of US forces around the world in an effort to determine if they could respond to a crisis more quickly from different locations. The US military has already been expanding into Eastern European nations, and concerns have arisen in Germany that the Americans will shrink their longstanding presence in the country because of the disagreement between Washington and Berlin over the war in Iraq. "The centre of gravity in Europe is still in Western Europe — thatâs where the structures are, thatâs where the majority of our own US bases are — but the centre of activity is clearly shifting," Jones said. There were also concerns the US Armyâs 1st Armored Division would go to the United States rather than return to its base in Wiesbaden when it leaves Iraq, which would hurt the regionâs economy. Jones said the military, out of concern for the soldiersâ families, has recommended that all of the divisions in Iraq return to their original base before any decisions are made regarding the US military presence in Germany. The Pentagon has also not reached any final conclusions on what the US military "footprint" abroad will be in the future. "This is still a pre-decisional time that weâre in in terms of what the future European footprint might look like, what the future Pacific footprint might look like," he said. Posted by: Seafarious 2003-10-14 |
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