Bush to cut forces in Europe, Asia

[bkcc]

"It will improve our capability to protect America and our allies...

Uh...how exactly does that work?
Let's see. Less troops out in the world = safer.

How is anyone voting for this fucking chimp??

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/08/14/bush.troops.home.ap/index.html

[Guy_Montag]

1. In fairness...

not sure where they are from, but Germany & Blighty are hardly threatened by the Soviet Union these days. To tell the truth I'm not sure why there are so many British soldiers posted to Germany now - except that we have nowhere to keep them here.

I imagine he's doing it to appeal to the famlies of the soldiers posted abroad.

[clydefrand]

2. Sorry for dupe. We posted at the same time

and I have the same question as you do. It makes no sense to me. Is this just a political ploy to get more votes or are we in for a HUGE surprise.

You can bet I'm not voting for the stupid bastard.

[bkcc]

3. It is purely political, I'm sure.

To respond to one of the earlier posts...sure, cut troops in Europe. It may make sense. But in ASIA?? Seems to me that we may have one or two issues to deal with over there in the future.

Bush* has no clue what he's doing when it comes to matters of national security.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

4. Funny. If they're not needed, why do we have them at all?

Since we have the world's mightiest military already, why do we need to keep pumping money into it?

And, if they're so damned good, why can't out heroes control a prostrate 3rd world country?

Why bring them home? Are we going to be attacked by vicious Canada? Or, perhaps, mighty Cuba?

Or, could it be that the "mission" isn't accomplished in Iraq and the troops will be making a brief stop here on their way to lovely Baghdad for their turn to receive the grateful thanks displayed by the Iraqi people?

[ColdWarZoomie]

5. I can't believe I'm saying "Rummy is right..."

I actually agree with two points with this administration (it isn't easy, believe you me, but I try to keep an open mind with these knuckleheads - even a broken clock is correct twice a day):

1. Shrinking our forces in Europe and Asia.
2. Changing our forces from a Cold War structure to a more modern one.

All these troops in Europe and Japan are left over from the Cold War. The threat is gone. Rummy is actually right to bring some home and move others into cheaper quarters. I spent 5 years overseas in the military and with DoD - Europe and Japan ain't cheap. I think it makes sense to keep some small, rapid reaction force overseas in countries that are not as expensive and bring home the Cold War era strategic folks.

Rummy is right about our force structure too. It's bloated in the wrong places and needs to be re-organized.