US President George W. Bush said Monday that the Pentagon would withdraw 60,000 to 70,000 troops over the next decade from Europe and Asia in the biggest realignment of the US military since the end of the Cold War.
In a speech to a convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars in the political combat zone of Ohio, the president said the redeployment would create a more flexible military that would be better positioned to fight terrorism. While the event on Monday event was billed as the formal unveiling of the plan, most of the details had been reported in early June, after the proposal was circulated among European and Asian allies.
Some troops will be brought home, Bush said, while others will be rotated through locations closer to the terrorist threat -- principally the Middle East and Central Asia, as well as Southeast Asia. The administration already is striking deals for greater access rights and temporary basing privileges in nations closer to locations believed to be terrorist headquarters and havens.
"For decades America's armed forces abroad have essentially remained where the wars of the last century ended, in Europe and in Asia," Bush told an enthusiastic crowd of veterans and their families. "America's current force posture was designed, for example, to protect us and our allies from Soviet aggression. The threat no longer exists."
The redeployment will affect an additional 100,000 military support and families, but it will not affect the troops now in Iraq and Afghanistan, deployments that have stretched the Army.
Bush's announcement, in a swing state that the White House has identified as essential to the president's chances for re-election, came with heavy political overtones. It is part of an effort leading into the Republican National Convention to promote Bush's record on national security, which polls show is his greatest advantage against his Democratic competitor, Senator John Kerry.
Kerry, a Vietnam combat veteran, is slated to address the same convention today. Bush, who spent the Vietnam War in a noncombat role in the Texas Air National Guard, attacked Kerry several times in his remarks as weak on defense.
"It's important we send the right signals when we speak here in America," Bush said. "The other day my opponent said if he's elected, the number of troops in Iraq will be significantly reduced within six months. I think it sends the wrong signal."
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