Locator: 50693AI.
President Trump says he plans to withdraw 5,000 US troops from Germany, currently with 36,000 US military troops spread over 40 installations.
- US Army: 22,000
- USAF: 13,000 (two air bases)
In an e-mail sidebar with a reader, my thoughts. Two parts:
First part: it's about time. We definitely need the air bases for
global operations but the US Army is nothing more than an "arm" of the
US State Department. The US Army in Germany, Italy, and Spain is there
for diplomatic reasons and for the good of the US military-industrial
complex.
But the US military-industrial complex could easily be moved into the Baltics, into Poland, into Ukraine, into Czech, but there is no military need for US Army in Germany except on the margins.5,000 is "peanuts." To get Germany's attention, Trumps needs to announce a larger withdrawal and be very specific about which US Army posts are no longer needed in Germany. I think by Congressional mandate a certain number of soldiers may be required in Germany, but certainly Congress doesn't mandate site by site. Hegseth would be in charge of that.Speaking of air bases, we have closed almost every air base in Germany except for a couple. The eastern countries in Europe would welcome the US.
Second part: let's see. We've been in Germany since 1945 -- that's 80+ years. How many presidents? Fourteen.
And we finally have a president in the modern era that not only questions why we still have that many there and who might actually do something about it. It's hard to believe that at the height of the Cold War in 1962, there were 275,000 US troops in Germany.
- 1962: Cuban missile crisis; and,
- 1960: CIA U-2 pilot Gary Powers shot down over Turkey.
It's amazing how president after president simply kicked these cans down the road. Of course, the biggest can was allowing Iran to come within weeks (?) of a nuclear weapon and allowing unfettered militarization of Iran during that same period.
Third part: I still maintain this could be part of a deal with Putin to move toward a ceasefire in Ukraine. Along with a guarantee that Ukraine won't become part of Ukraine.
Finally a president alles über den Haufen werfen.
