MARCH 5, 2003
Nato may shift US forces in
Europe farther east
The proposal, put forward by
the military alliance's top commander, would involve a cut in
American troops in Germany
STUTTGART (Germany) - Nato's top commander has laid
out his vision for a radical overhaul of how US forces are deployed
in Europe, which would reduce the American presence in Germany in
favour of smaller, less costly bases in eastern Europe.
General James Jones said the plans, which were still
at an 'embryonic stage', would shift the weight of US forces
from western Europe to countries farther east such as Poland,
Bulgaria and Romania, which are closer to the post-Cold War
conflicts of today.
'With an alliance that is moving to the east, it
stands to me as eminently logical that we will have more contacts
with the east,' Gen Jones said in a briefing here on Monday.
He said he would visit Nato's future members in
eastern Europe this spring to brief them on the proposals and would
be in a position to begin carrying out the first stages in about a
year.
Gen Jones, who became the Nato military chief as
well as the commander of US forces in Europe in January, portrayed
the process as part of a broader transformation of the alliance's
war-fighting abilities.
But it is also occurring against the backdrop of a
political rift between Germany and the United States. That rift, he
said, could propel the debate over where to send troops in
unpredictable directions.
'Timing is everything,' said Gen Jones, who first
presented his thinking to members of Congress last month and plans
to offer more details in testimony before the House and Senate this
month.
Some lawmakers have called for the Pentagon to pull
its troops out of Germany as a way of punishing Chancellor Gerhard
Schroeder for his refusal to support an American-led war on Iraq.
Gen Jones insisted his plans had nothing to do with
the current trans-Atlantic tension.
'I cannot dictate what people think,' he
said.
'But I will do everything possible to dissuade
them.'
He said he had discussed the plans with German
military officials but had not presented them formally. He said he
did not detect any 'trauma' on the part of the Germans.
In Washington, a State Department spokesman said
there were no 'formal' plans to move US soldiers from bases in
western Europe as Gen Jones was engaged in talks.
Rumours of base closings, however, are already
getting headlines here.
On Monday, German newspaper Die Welt reported that
the reductions would fall heavily on Heidelberg, a town that is the
European headquarters of the army.
There are 78,000 US servicemen in Germany, many with
families.
In Heidelberg and other towns such Kaiserslautern,
which is near the Ramstein air base, they are an important part of
the local economy. --New York Times, AFP
Copyright @ 2003 Singapore Press
Holdings. All rights reserved.
| 