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Subject:
Should US Withdraw from Germany?
Phoenix Rising
2/18/2003 9:00:50 PM
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It seems to be under strong consideration, at the very least; we already greatly reduced our troop strength there from 1990-96. The political environment is guaranteed to make any future planned reductions much more politically charged, however, and will attract more public attention.
So there are two questions:
1) Should we downsize in Germany, and if so how much?
2) If yes, where do we want to send these forces? Bring them home? Base them in Iraq after hostilities end? Simply move them to NATO's new eastern front (Poland, Hungary, or the Czech Republic, perhaps?)
I actually think that a complete withdrawal of American forces from Germany is not completely unwarranted, though not to economically punish Germany for their intransigence, but more simply to acknowledge the changed strategic realities since the end of the Cold War. One of my choice picks for a place to reposition would be Hungary; it's much closer to the Middle East than Germany, but it's also more stable than many of the smaller Eastern European countries (or any Middle Eastern countries barring the one that we'll never openly position troops in, for political reasons). In addition, it wouldn't irritate Russia so much.
If we're serious about reconstructing Iraq a la Germany and Japan, it wouldn't be a bad idea to send them there, either. Sometimes a large troop presence simply by its very presence helps to calm trouble; it's a symbol of commitment. But I would be very hesitant to send them there if all we wanted to do was use Iraq as a staging ground for attacks on other targets in the region; intentions matter, and we shouldn't be so stupid as to think that the Iraqis will never be able to figure out for themselves what our actions say about our intentions. Having extra firepower in Iraq might also deter other regional opportunists (and I'm not sure if there is any other kind of government in the region) from trying to take advantage of the momentary lapse of government within Iraq for political reasons, if they know that we're going to be there in force and aren't going to appreciate any tampering with the transition to democracy.
--Phoenix Rising |
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