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U.S. to Close 35 Percent of Overseas Bases
EFL[...] Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was outlining the plan Thursday to the Senate Armed Services Committee. In a report to Congress, the Pentagon offered details of the "global defense posture." The planned changes, once completed, will result in "the most profound reordering" of U.S. military forces overseas since the current global arrangements were set 50 years ago, according to the report. [...] The Pentagon foresees three types of overseas arrangements: 1. Main operating bases with permanently stationed forces and family support structures. Examples including Ramstein Air Base in Germany, Camp Humphreys in South Korea and Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan. 2. Forward operating sites maintained by a limited number of military personnel and possibly stored equipment. These sites will support rotational rather than permanently stationed forces. Examples are Soto Cano Air Base in Honduras and Thumrait and Masirah Island air bases in Oman. 3. Even more austere sites, which the Pentagon calls "cooperative security locations." With little or no permanent U.S. presence, these may be maintained by contractor or host nation personnel. They will allow access for U.S. forces in special circumstances and be a focal point for regional cooperation. An example is the air base in Dakar, Senegal, and Entebbe airport in Uganda. Among locations the Pentagon is considering adding: 1. The tiny island nation of Sao Tome and Principe, off the coast of West Africa. It is among the places Gen. Charles Wald, deputy commander of U.S. European Command, has mentioned as a potential U.S. forward operating site, but not a base. Sao Tome holds a strategic position in the Gulf of Guinea from which the U.S. military could monitor the movement of oil tankers and protect oil platforms. 2. In Bulgaria, which joined the U.S.-led NATO alliance this year, the Sarafovo and Graf Ignatievo air fields could serve as bases for U.S. troops to deploy on rotational training tours. 3. In Romania, the Americans have shown interest in the Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base, the Babadag training range and the Black Sea military port of Mangalia. 4. In Australia, where Pentagon officials have said they have no plans for permanent bases, U.S. forces likely will conduct joint training with Australian forces. The terms under which U.S. forces could use these sites and facilities will have to be negotiated. Feith said the Pentagon wanted to avoid the kind of environmental or political constraints that have limited U.S. military training and deployment options in Europe in recent years. "If countries are going to subject us to the kinds of restrictions that may mean we're not going to be able to fulfill the purpose of having troops deployed there, then we're going to have to think whether to have troops deployed there," Feith said. Senior Bush administration officials already have held talks with many countries, including Bulgaria, Azerbaijan, the Philippines, Poland, Romania, Singapore, Thailand, Turkey and Uzbekistan. Posted by: Super Hose 2004-09-24 |
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