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WaPo: Hand Wringing over Euro Troop Reduction
EFL. Just another stupid kneejerk poli-reaction to BusHitler's diabolical plans. Is there a Rantburg Category for elites/pundits/hasbeens that have no friggin' clue?| Fifth Column is just about right. |
Harry Truman must be turning over in his grave. The planned withdrawal of U.S. troops from Europe and Asia that President Bush announced this week, if allowed to stand, could lead to the demise of the United States' key alliances across the globe, including the one that Truman considered his greatest foreign policy accomplishment: NATO.
The president proposes something that generations of U.S. diplomats and soldiers fought to prevent and that our adversaries sought unsuccessfully to achieve: radical reduction of U.S. political and military influence on the European and Asian continents. The Bush message, delivered at a campaign rally, also smells of political opportunism. Under pressure but unable to withdraw troops from Iraq, the president has instead reached for what his advisers hope is the next best thing politically -- a pledge to bring the boys home from Europe and Asia... The writer, Ronald D. Asmus, is a senior transatlantic fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, served as deputy assistant secretary of state for European affairs from 1997 to 2000. The views here are talking points for somebody opposed to the Bush Administration his own. | The only "spinning" here is from Bush's opposition. Harry Truman was a smart man who wasn't afraid to make tough decisions when America was in danger. I believe that he would absolutely be willing to enter the dabate over the future of NATO and the disposition of American troops across the globe. |
Posted by: Anon4021 2004-08-18 |
