Bush Announces Plan for Troop Realignment

[wicket]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=2&u=/ap/20040816/ap_on_el_pr/bush

President Bush on Monday announced plans to shift 60,000 to 70,000 U.S. troops who are now stationed in Europe and Asia in one of the largest troop realignments since the end of the Cold War.

Some of the troops would be shifted to posts in Eastern Europe, White House officials said, and it remained unclear if the overall number of U.S. troops stationed overseas would drop.

The action, which has been years in the making, follows years of debate over how to position U.S. troops to respond to modern-day threats such as terrorism and the volatile Middle East.

It could gain Bush election-year applause from military families, but won't ease the strain on 150,000 U.S. soldiers deployed to war zones, who are still battling violent factions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"The world has changed a great deal and our posture must change with it — for the sake of our military families, for the sake of our taxpayers and so we can be more effective at projecting our strength and spreading freedom and peace," Bush said.

[trotsky]

1. "Election-year applause"

Yeah, right, until those troops find themselves assigned in the desert having potshots taken at them.

[shockingelk]

8. Is the fix in?

If they can get any back to a base in a battleground state before the election, military personnel can fill out DD Form 2048 then register to vote in that state. All that's required is physical presence in the state and a stated intention of making that state your permanent home.

One wonders why they would announce it if that's the intention ... it's more likely a maneuver to allow President Kerry to be criticized by following through on his promise of adding 40K active duty personnel: "Bush fixed the problem for you., We don't need those troops.

[Name removed]

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[Goldmund]

2. Rove's idea, completely unrelated to actual plans

[hadrons]

3. "Bush election-year applause from military families ..."

they know where they will be going next, its just a matter of how deep in denial some of them are to it

[BlueEyedSon]

4. Freeing them up for Iran....?

[wicket]

11. I wouldn't put it past them

[Lerkfish]

14. that's my take. nt

[molly]

5. This going to come back and bite them hard

they must think we are all as stupid as they are. These trips will come home and then be deployed to Iraq.

"Some of the troops would be shifted to posts in Eastern Europe" what do they consider Eastern Europe?

[Florida_Geek]

6. Ya right

Those families living in Germany with their military members are going to love moving to the states with their military members being sent to East Europe on single status only assignments.

[saigon68]

7. Join up and Kill the Rag Head

[fob]

9. Slightly OT, but on the local news here was a group of reserves, approx

20-25 persons that were shipping out for training and then off to Eye-rack. The story was sad but not out of the ordinary until the closing remark of the reporter, "This particular groups expects to be back in February,......2006".

That's 18 months!!

Oh and there was a guy the camera kept coming back to, he was clearly older than the rest. The ages were listed as, "between 19 and 59".

And just to wrap it up, the military families interviewed were nowhere near "applause" status.

[SpecialK84]

15. That's what's happening to my friend ...

She is in the reserves and just found out last week she is leaving Sept 29th I believe, for training and then 18 months in Iraq.

It might come across young, naive, and even selfish but this was the first time I've been affected personally by the war and it's really messed with my head these last few days.

[fob]

17. I don't mean to be rude but it will stay with you for the rest of your

life. I have a close friend that was in the reserves during the Gulf
War (bush war I), and I can still feel the gut shot when he told me he got the call that his unit was put on alert and could ship out on a moments notice. They didn't get called up since it was over so fast, but I still remember the sinking feeling. It hurts in general that bush* is warmongering as a campaign tactic, but when it hits close to home, it intensifies exponentially.

Do your best to support your friend, but do all you can to make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else.

You will never forget that feeling, a constant reminder why it does matter who is CINC.

[2Design]

10. Question, concern......and an idea .

could this be so he can impose martiallaw or in some way control the masses....

This would be the right thing to do:
By bringing back 100,000 he could let the 40,000 reservist go home and be where they belong and also stop the stop action so those who want to leave the military can leave.

[lanparty]

12. honestly ...

... I think most of this plan is sound and level headed. It removes US troops from where they are NOT NEEDED (Germany) and relocates them at home where those dollars can be reinvested in the US economy.

I'm not so sure about downstaffing in Korea. Obviously, N Korea is in no position to invade the south. But a strong military presence could act as an ongoing deterence to N Korea.

But I'll say this. If the South Koreans want reduced US troops, we should pull out. The South Koreans have a much better idea of how to deal with their own kin. We should follow their lead and hope that the unity displayed at the Olympics may oneday lead to a peaceful collapse of the Kim regime and reunification of Korea.

One thing that WAS striking was the lack of the whole "lillypad" concept I've heard so much about before. They were talking about creating hundreds of small bases in Eastern Europe as opposed to larger bases. I'm not sure that's a good idea from a security standpoint. Nor do I think that deploying troops in Eastern Europe could lead to anything more than freaking out the Russians (who don't need any freaking out right now).

[AspenRose]

18. I agree with your thoughts re: Korea

Downsizing in Korea is a mistake, unless the South Koreans WANT us out.

[truthisfreedom]

13. he makes it sound like he's spreading jam. everything this admin does is

suspect... they have created endless suspicion and the only cure is to remove them from office permanently.

[Kimber Scott]

16. Who dreams up this "applause" shit? When I joined the Army I wanted

to go to Germany. It was great. Applause for taking people out of Europe and Asia and moving them to Louisiana, or Iraq? Wishful thinking, to say the least.