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U.S. troop pullouts: Thereâs a political message, too
| We already got the political message. That's why the pullout... |
 The implications of the forthcoming withdrawal of one-third of the 37,000 U.S. troops in South Korea and two army divisions from Germany are as much political as military since both nations have been the site of vigorous anti-American eruptions in the last few years. A researcher at the East-West Center in Hawaii, Richard Baker, asserted June 9 that the planned reduction in South Korea was "basically calls the bluff of those in Korea who have been calling for the United States to go away." He added that nobody thought it would leave. On a wider angle, U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said June 5: "We want to have our forces where people want them. We have no desire to be where weâre not wanted."
| This is what our collective back looks like. This is what the place looks like without us. Enjoy your kimchee, guys... |
Polls by the Pew Research Center in Washington suggest that Rumsfeld has solid backing in the American public for his stance on Europe. Where 83 percent of Americans saw Germany in a favorable light two years ago, only 50 percent say so now. France dropped from a 79 percent favorable rating to 33 percent. Despite expressions of European and American unity at D-Day commemorations, in a United Nations vote on Iraq, and at the Group of Eight summit in Georgia, the Economist magazine of London called U.S.-European relations "a creaking partnership." U.S. forces have been in Europe since World War II ended in 1945; those in South Korea since the Korean War ended in 1953. In a recent Pentagon briefing, an official said those deployments "had a logic that was based on an earlier time technologically and an earlier time historically."
| We'll be right on the spot if the 100 Years War fires up again... |
Bush administration officials further suggested it was time for allies in Asia and Europe to do more for their own defense. Said one official: "Thereâs a bigger piece in security cooperation -- how we can build up capability in allies?"
| Let 'em do it themselves? |
The military intent of the worldwide repositioning of U.S. forces, the officials said, was to be able to contend with uncertainty, operate across regions rather than be tied down to one nation, and respond to crises with speed. Perhaps most important, said one official: "The focus here has been on capabilities and not numbers." Politically, the delay of President Roh Moo Hyunâs government in Seoul to dispatch troops to Iraq has generated a perception that South Korea may not be a reliable ally. Some American officers have wondered privately whether South Korea could be counted on if the U.S. got into hostilities with North Korea or China.
| Not if they could get out of it. |
Pro-China leanings of many South Koreans, especially those younger, has caused some South Korean specialists in international relations to caution that their nation should not weaken what one called its "maritime alliance" with the U.S. in favor of Koreaâs traditional role as a vassal of China. A subtle factor in American strategic thinking is Koreaâs continuing anti-Japanese posture even though Japanâs occupation of Korea ended nearly 60 years ago. In U.S. military planning, Japan and Korea are part of the same area of operations and Korean animosity toward Japan is seen as a hindrance to U.S. action. American officials have been discussing changes in U.S. deployments to Japan, officials in the Pentagon briefing said, but did not give specifics. Among the changes speculated in the Japanese press are moving U.S. Navy aircraft out of Atsugi, southwest of Tokyo, and U.S. Air Force units out of Yokota, in western Tokyo.
In addition has been speculation that the U.S. Marines might move some units out of Okinawa, in southern Japan, to ease long-standing frictions between Okinawans and Americans on that crowded island. Those marines would go to Hokkaido, in northern Japan, where they would have more room to train and would be closer to South Korea. The armyâs I Corps at Fort Lewis in the state of Washington is scheduled to go to Iraq and then to be posted in Japan to take command of U.S. Army forces in Asia. Officers at U.S. Forces Japan, a political-military headquarters, contend that their unit should continue to work day-to-day with the Japanese Self-Defense Force, a task that requires constant attention. Even so, Japan is seen as a steady ally despite constitutional constraints on its military actions. Said one U.S. officer: "The Japanese have done everything we asked of them in Afghanistan and Iraq."
Posted by: tipper 2004-06-17 |
