July 30, 2005
END THE OCCUPATION NOW:
US announces German base closures (BBC, 7/30/05)
US troops will pull out of 11 bases in southern Germany in 2007 as part of a shake-up of US forces around the world.The bases, mainly in Bavaria, are home to the 1st Infantry Division which will return to the US in 2006, the defence department said in a statement.
It will be replaced by smaller forces able to react rapidly to new threats.
Up to 70,000 US troops currently in Europe and Asia are to be redeployed in accordance with plans announced by President George W Bush last year.
The US has almost 100,000 soldiers stationed in Western Europe and about 80,000 in the Far East.
At this rate WWII will be over soon. Posted by Orrin Judd at July 30, 2005 7:24 AM
Yassuh!
Posted by: Genecis at July 30, 2005 9:01 AMIt would be nice that all of the people screaming about forces in Iraq 2 yrs after the war would remember how long forces stayed in Germany, Japan, Korea, etc.
I don't remember if these troops are coming back to the US or elsewhere in the world. If back to the US put them in bases in purple states to make these states redder.
Posted by: AWW at July 30, 2005 10:16 AMDo we get to keep the land the bases are on?
Posted by: RC at July 30, 2005 10:45 AMThe obvious places for a military staging area in Europe are Poland and Hungary, where our troops would be welcome, the cost of living is cheaper, the land is flat and the climate less wet.
We should be out of Germany altogether, let them stew in their own juices.
Posted by: bart at July 30, 2005 12:03 PMJa Wolh!
Posted by: erp at July 30, 2005 1:36 PMwe should send them a bill for 50 years of protection.
Posted by: cjm at July 30, 2005 2:04 PMJawohl, naturlich.
I agree that times have changed and we need to change the configuration of our imperial outposts.
Bases in Poland and other places in the former sphere of influnce of the former Soviet Union, especailly the "-stans," are a good idea. Wwe must keep the choinces rationlly related to force projection and warfighting in the 21st Centruy, not the mid-twentieth. Air power, mobility, technology, logistics, and the force to provide security for them must be in place, just as they must be in the former Iraq in foreseeable perpetuity.
The new female chancellor of Germany (who will probably be elected) appears to have a friendly outlook toward the US, compared with the current one. I hope this decision doesn't hurt her chances of election.
Posted by: John J. Coupal at July 30, 2005 4:59 PMJust like here, its probably a more serious economic issue to the respective nearby community whether any particular base closing is meaningful or hurtful or whatever. Some US base closings have been real boons to the local community especially those communities that took advantage of advance notice and planned for post military use of the respective base land.
Posted by: oldkayaker at July 31, 2005 9:38 PM