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For Immediate Release
August 16, 2004
Contact: Jano Cabrera
202-863-8148
STATEMENT BY GENERAL WESLEY CLARK ON TROOP REDEPLOYMENTS FROM EUROPE AND ASIA
Washington, D.C. -General Wesley Clark issued the following statement today.
"President Bush's decision to redeploy approximately 70,000 U.S. troops from Europe and Asia will significantly undermine U.S. national security. As we face a global war on terror with Al Qaeda active in more than 60 countries, now is not the time to pull-back our forces, and I question why President Bush would want to do this now.
"First, removing U.S. forces from the Korean Peninsula at a critical juncture in diplomatic efforts to dismantle North Korea's nuclear program will send a dangerous signal of weak U.S. resolve to Kim Jong Il.
"Second, withdrawing forces from Europe will further undermine already strained relations with long-time NATO allies, will be interpreted as the distancing of the U.S. from NATO, and will set back U.S. efforts to encourage greater NATO participation in Iraq.
"Third, bringing U.S. forces back to the U.S. will not enhance our ability to deploy U.S. forces quickly to key hot spots around the world -- all of which are more accessible from Western Europe than from the continental U.S.
"Finally, this redeployment will do nothing to ease the strain on our overstretched military forces. Worse, it will increase the burden on many military families as troops will be separated from their families during more frequent and unaccompanied deployments to Eastern Europe.
"This ill-conceived move and its timing seem politically motivated rather than designed to strengthen our national security."
Paid for and authorized by the Democratic National Committee, www.democrats.org. This communication is not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.
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