Bush to Pull 70,000 Troops from Europe, Asia

update:

Germany will be hit harder than any other country by US President George W. Bush's announcement on Monday that the Pentagon will withdraw 70,000 troops from overseas and return them to US bases, US officials said at the weekend.

About 45,000 of the reduction will come in Europe, a majority being culled from the 75,000 US servicemen based in facilities across Germany. The US has been in talks with German officials about its plans for more than a year. It will be the biggest restructuring of US forces overseas since the end of the cold war. The plans include a general briefing in December when most of the overview was presented, according to a senior state department official.

Senior Pentagon officials have emphasised that any reduction is not connected with Germany's opposition to the Iraq war.

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/7c357c6e-ee...00e2511c8.html

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Foxey, are NATO and the UN the only reasons the US and UK are allies

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I'm sure Foxey will have his own view, but to my mind the reasons for us being allies are far more complex than that.

Now if i was cynical i would say the only reason we are allies is because the UK held some strategic use to the USA, at least during the cold war.

You make a big deal about France and Germany opposing the Iraq war, but it was not that long ago that America threatend to make a Run On The Pound If the UK didn't back down over the Suize Cannal.

Now if you were cynical, you could say that the only reason we are allies is the Brits no which side there bread is buttered.

But at the end of the day we both nead each other to varying degrees. You can not police the world alone, to attempt to would be catastrophic on your econemy. To withdraw to your boarders and go back to the isolationist policies of pre-world war 1, would be equaly bad for you.

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Originally posted here by Tedob1
Haven't seem that robin williams piece before. actually i didn't think he was that much of a conservative. but that seems to be the feelings of a growing number of americans. ive been ranting this in cosmos since i first joined AO. glad to see im not alone any more. "want a piece of me" ...thats great!

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This has been circulating the internet since 2003 and is not true.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/williams.asp

http://urbanlegends.about.com/librar...liams-plan.htm

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To withdraw to your boarders and go back to the isolationist policies of pre-world war 1, would be equaly bad for you.

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And that is where a major strife errupts in personal political views. Both the extreme left and extreme right wish that upon the masses. I call it the Suicide Policy.

America and Britain should go to the UN and form the United-United Kingdom of States? :D

Personally I would like us to go to a median between isolationist and imperalist. I don't want to cut us off from the world, but I don't think we need to stick our nose into everyone elses business either.

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Foxey, are NATO and the UN the only reasons the US and UK are allies? or Poland or some others? international relations dont depend upon a bunch of pussys. they exist in spite of them.

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IMHO we are allies because of historical reasons. We Owned J00z :eek: until George III lost the plot, and your very own home grown 'terrorist' (GW) kicked our butts back home.

Since then we have been inextricably tied together, and, for better or worse, when the gloves come off, we are both on the same side. And long may it continue.......

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Originally posted here by jinxy

Now if i was cynical i would say the only reason we are allies is because the UK held some strategic use to the USA, at least during the cold war.

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I believe we were refered to as 'An Unsinkable Aircraft Carrier'

Also; in the early days of the cold war, we were the early warning system. Our radar (Pre over the horizon technology) would see the missiles coming, and you would get a warning, giving you vital minutes to make your final moves.

This gave us an insight into 'military intelligence', as our missile at the time was 'Blue Streak', with a warm up to launch time of 28 minutes.

When we 'saw' the missiles on radar, we had FOUR MINUTES to go.

So; we could boil an egg. But not eat it.
Begin SEX. But not finish.................... Not me anyway, no good under pressure.
Or; we could prep our missiles. BUT NOT BE ABLE TO LAUNCH THEM......

As for Robin Williams peace plan; I'd posted it in Tech Humour, as it made me laff.....
Sorry to CXGJarrod, for not checking it out better.

You are now finding out what we in the UK have known for GENERATIONS.
Germany and (mainly) France are in this for themselves.

I found a quote from someone: (unknown)

What is the world coming to.
The best Rapper in the world is White.
The best Golfer in the world is Black
The French accuse the Americans of being arrogant.
And the Germans are refusing to go to war.......

The Germans even accused the Poles of getting too big for their boots ?
When they agreed to send troops to Iraq. (200 special forces, bomb disposal.)

I've attached a .txt file.
giving details of French military 'success'.
After reading it, you might understand just why they are anti 'war in Iraq'
Apart from the billions of $$ they were making in selling Sadman anything from weaponry to nuke power plants.......
You are the new kid on the block, and you have power only dreamed about by the empire builders of the past. They COULD be jealous............. But they would NEVER admit to anything so petty and childish. So they will just deny fly over rights to our military aircraft (as when you bombed Libya, you had to fly via SPAIN. (note to Americans, Spain is to the left of France, and therefore, further to fly) Use of UK land bases was important to show solidarity. You COULD have launched from the 6th fleet carriers. But Ronnie and Mags had that special relationship, and you could tell it got right up le french nostrils.


And yet again I've drifted into that region of off topicness that is beinning to characterise my cosmos posts.

Damn; but I LOVE it here...............

Hi Foxy,

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Also; in the early days of the cold war, we were the early warning system. Our radar (Pre over the horizon technology) would see the missiles coming, and you would get a warning, giving you vital minutes to make your final moves.

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Not quite, those were the "golf balls" at RAF Fylingdales (just up the road from me)

The USA got 30 minutes, we got 4, depending on the attack vector. Thule Airbase was their far end of the DEW (Defence Early Warning) line. NOW we have the pyramid............kills onboard car (automobile) computers :D

RAF (Royal Air Force) Fylingdales is up and running hot, straight and normal :D

Well it does "torpedo" automobiles..................

Cheers

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The Germans even accused the Poles of getting too big for their boots ?

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That's funny considering the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939 after taking over the Czechs.