The number of U.S. soldiers stationed in Europe will be reduced from 110,000 to 50,000. In Germany, forces will be substantially cut down from the current level of 76,000 with the return to the United States of the Army’s First Armored Division and First Infantry Division currently located at bases there. Jones said U.S. forces will remain in Ramstein and Grafenwoehr, Germany, as well as Aviano and Naples, Italy.

At the same time, Washington plans to shift its remaining forces in Europe eastward, closer to the Middle East, Africa, and Central Asia. “Troops will train at former Soviet bases in Eastern Europe,” said an article in the January 3 Army Times. These include bases in Poland, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria, which are new members of NATO. The repositioning will allow the U.S. rulers to more effectively deploy forces to “Georgia and Azerbaijan in the Caucasus region and to strategic sites along the West African coast,” the Army Times said.

These steps are part of the U.S. military’s “transformation,” aimed at reorganizing Washington’s armed forces into smaller and more mobile and lethal units poised for rapid deployment for the U.S. rulers to defend their wealth and domination. There will be a step-up in the use of such units as well as port visits along the coast of West Africa “as soon as the Navy and the Marine Corps can generate the types of deployments they did in the past” and when “not all the Marines are either in Iraq or waiting to go to Iraq,” Jones said.

“We’re charting Africa right now,” the U.S. general added, “so that when the time comes, and we get more assets, we can do things on a bigger scale.”

The reduction in U.S. forces in Germany will be carried out in coordination with the U.S. Base Realignment and Closure Commission, which is expected to give Congress a list of proposed base closings before the end of 2005.  
 
 
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