AFP, WASHINGTON: The United States will likely withdraw heavy army units from Germany as part of a global realignment of forces, but no final decisions have been made and it has not identified specific units, bases or a timeline for withdrawal, a Pentagon spokesman said Friday.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Douglas Feith, the Pentagon's top policy advisor, told German officials in December that the United States plans to pull heavy armored units out of the country in 2005 and 2006.
A Pentagon spokesman said Undersecretary of State Marc Grossman, not Feith, met with the Germans in December but did not discuss dates or troop numbers.
“He said some of the heavy forces might be pulled out, it's likely,” said Major Paul Swiergosz, the spokesman. “But he didn't name specific bases, troop units, or give a timeline.”
There are more US troops in Germany — about 70,000 — than any other European country. They include the 1st Armored Division and the 1st Infantry Division, some 30,000 troops, many of them now deployed in Iraq.
Swiergosz and senior US defense officials said the United States is still in the process of consulting allies on a sweeping review of the US military footprint worldwide, and no decisions have yet been made.
The spokesman said separate discussions were underway with Turkey on the use of a major air base there to move troops in and out of Iraq, but again no formal decisions have been made.
However, a senior air force general told reporters this week that the air force has been using the Incirlik Air Base in Turkey for tanker and cargo planes moving supplies in and out of Iraq.
General Ronald Foglesong, who was recently in Turkey for talks, said the air force would also like access to training ranges there.
The aim of the realignment, which US defense officials emphasize will take years to achieve, is to position US forces around the world so that they can respond quickly to trouble arising in unexpected places.
Rather than maintaining the heavy, armored forces that stood guard over Europe through the Cold War, Pentagon strategists advocate greater reliance on US-based forces rotating through smaller bare bones installations in eastern and southern Europe, closer to potential trouble spots in the Middle East and the Caucasus.
Large hubs are likely to remain in Europe, however.
Foglesong, who commands US air forces in Europe, noted that the United States is investing heavily in construction projects in Germany at Ramstein Air Base, a huge base logistics base, and Spangdahlem, a base for fighters.
“I can't imagine an air force base in the world where we're putting more money right now,” he said.
US forces in Europe are being sized up from the perspective both of their ability to move quickly in a crisis and their value as a means of engaging allies, he said.
He noted it is more expensive to bring forces in from the United States than to have them permanently stationed in the theater.
Foglesong questioned whether the size of the US air forces in Europe will go down as a result of the realignment, noting that over the past decade it has shrunk from 12 fighter wings to two and a half.
The process of consolidating US forces in Europe is likely to follow a parallel consolidation of operational commands in NATO, a senior Navy official said. The US Navy may consolidate its European operations under a single Sixth fleet headquarters in Italy, the official said.
