Panel Urges Slow Return of Troops

And so the fight on the latest round of base closures slowly stirs to a simmer.

A congressionally chartered panel of military experts said Monday the Pentagon should slow its withdrawal of troops from Europe and Asia and should keep in Germany one of the two heavy armored units currently scheduled to return to the United States.

“We’re saying slow this down, step back, take a breath,” said Al Cornella, chairman of the Overseas Basing Commission, whose report includes findings the Pentagon strongly disputes. “Let’s look at it and determine how” to accommodate the troops who are brought home, he said.

The commission also said it believes the Pentagon has underestimated the cost of repositioning U.S. forces abroad. It’s likely to cost closer to $20 billion than the $8 billion to $12 billion estimated by the Pentagon, the panel said in its report to Congress and President Bush.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said arrangements are in place to build housing and other facilities required for the return of an estimated 70,000 troops and 100,000 family members. Most of those are returning from Germany, but some also will come home from South Korea.

Whitman said that while the Pentagon appreciates the commission’s work, “the analysis has significant flaws and suffers from inaccuracies in its findings.”

He said the commission was wrong to conclude that the Pentagon has not adequately coordinated with other government agencies and with members of Congress, and he disputed the panel’s finding that overseas changes should await decisions on domestic military base closures.

Whitman said Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld’s recommendations on which domestic bases to close or realign – to be disclosed no later than May 16 and possibly later this week – have taken into account the need to accommodate the 70,000 troops returning from overseas.

“We have plans, we know where they’re going to go” once they get to the United States, and the Pentagon has determined where additional facilities will be built to accommodate them, Whitman said.

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The Overseas Basing Commission did not focus on the specifics of domestic base closings, but addressed instead the Pentagon’s plan for repositioning U.S. forces overseas – to include the plan to bring home 70,000 troops from Asia and Europe.

Cornella told a news conference Monday that the commission recommends keeping in Europe a 4,000-soldier heavy combat brigade that is scheduled for return to the United States. He and other commission members said this would provide a security hedge against unexpected threats in the European region, as well as enhance cooperation with NATO allies.

Please tell me any situation in Europe that could currently feasibly be anticipated that would demand the constant presence of an American heavy brigade. I see nothing presently on the horizon in Europe or the Middle East that would not allow for the difference in build-up time of Europe- or U.S.-based units. We’re not guarding the Fulda Gap against the ever-threatening Red Horde anymore, folks.

If I had to choose between leaving troops overseas in Germany or Korea, I would opt for Korea. That would leave us closer to expected hot spots where a heavy brigade would actually be needed on a must-be-there-yesterday basis. That said, bringing that brigade stateside from Europe would actually bring them to an easier Asian deployment.

And then there’s Iran. Should that little powderkeg blow up into a ground war, a brigade in Germany buys us little or none. A major deployment would be needed, and troops quickly shuttled in from Eastern Europe and the states, along with a heaping helping of air power, could certainly buy the time the deployment would require.

As an added plus to a withdrawal from Germany and its cohorts in Old Europe, maybe they would once again feel a need to contribute significantly to their own defense. Daddy can’t always be there for them every moment of the day — it’s time for them to face the full obligations of their current martial stability. Yeah, I feel a degree of ingratitude these days.