European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 02, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday february 2, 1990 the w. German parties Hail of cutting troop Levels by Joseph Owen Bush proposed thai . And soviet troops be re Stutt Stirt Bureau Ducco to 225,000 in Europe Down to 195,000 in the stars and stripes Page 3 Stuttgart West German political parties embraced the Chance for disarmament thursday in the Wake of president Bush s .-Sovicl troop Cut proposal but differed on what they thought disarmament would help achieve. Chancellor Helmut Kohl s Christian democratic Union the largest of the three parties in the governing coalition said the proposal lakes Stock of Germany s growing  the social democrats the largest opposition party said Bush has Given a boost to its efforts to shrink the West German armed forces. And the left Wing Green party accused Bush of being a Johnny come lately who is getting into the disarmament game Only to avoid looking bad and to limit the size of Floc troop cuts. The free democratic party members of the ruling coalition said Only that Bush s proposal could Lead to Early Success at the conventional arms negotiations in Vienna. Austria. Bus t Duce Central Europe. About 250,000 .  Are based in West Germany which is considered part of Central Europe along with Belgium and the nether lands. Cd general Secretary Volker Ruhe said in a press release that the Bush proposal corresponds to cd objectives and is a result of the Federal government s  he characterized the Bush announcement As a boost for the Vienna talks. Roc called the Bush proposal an example setting step for the future formation of Europe and the living together of people in East and West an oblique refer ence to German reunification Aims a favorite cd theme. Left Wing spa parliamentarians demanded Only hours before Bush s state of the Union speech that nato make disarmament actions Independent of the negotiations in Vienna and that West Germany reduce Bush goal in Europe the number of its own troops to 240,000. Bush is taking into account the dynamics of East Ern european change and is making an important contribution to the support of democratic development in Eastern Europe a party press release quoted spa parliamentary vice chairman horse Ehmki As saying thursday. The Green party called the Bush proposal a form of damage  if Steps toward disarmament can t be avoided any longer he wants at least to arouse the impression that he himself is involved in them parliamentary disarmament subcommittee member Angelika Beer said. Beer said Bush wants to minimize disarmament moves. Bush s proposal limps along behind current developments by the time of its announcement it had already been overtaken she said. Today it s not a question of transferring a few Divi Sions across the Atlantic but of taking advantage of the gradual self dissolution process of the Warsaw pact to bring about the same thing in  Bush proposes Steep troop cuts in Europe continued from Page 1 Bachy. Bush gave no indication that hews willing to abandon his troop reduction offer on the table in Vienna aus Tria and Cut deeper into conventional forces in Europe. But a while House source said the momentous changes shaking Eastern Europe resulted in a general feeling among the president s lop aides that the original troop Cut proposals were being overtaken by events. When you look at How fast things arc happening now it just seems like those earlier proposals Are sort of under Helm  the White House source said. There s been a fair amount of pressure from Congress and from some of the Al lies in Europe to go further and move  in his speech. Bush referred to the revolution of 89" and said the time is right to move Forward on a conventional arms control agreement to move us to the military in Europe nato country army Navy Marine corps air Force total Belgium 1,497 133 26 1,950 3,606 Denmark 17 23 9 25 74 Germany 209,983 332 94 40,373 250,782 France 18 9 35 18 80 Greece 511 525 16 2,401 3,453 Italy 4,265 4,359 310 5,854 14,788 Luxembourg 5 0 5 0 10 Netherlands 871 17 9 2.146 3,043 Norway 35 40 22 126 223 Portugal 68 378 9 1,202 1.657 Spain 22 3,698 199 5,087 9,004 Turkey 1.190 110 20 3.610 4,930 United kingdom 231 2,311 379 26,466 29,395 afloat 18,439 3,835 22.274 total 218,782 30,382 4,968 89,258 "343,319 afloat personnel include those temporarily assigned to . Naval forces Europe while serving aboard ships operating within the Neucom area of responsibility. Temporary duty personnel do not count against the congressionally mandated european troop strength ceiling of 326,414. Source Neucom Public affairs current As of May 1988 More appropriate Levels of military forces in  he said troop Levels can still be lower yet continue to protect american and european interests and sustain nato s defense  defense officials said it was too Early to talk about details on How the pullout might take place or what specific units might be affected by Bush s proposal. There is a rough plan but a lot of the detail work Wilf have to come out through the negotiation process a Pentagon spokesman said. But he said the army is Likely to be the prime target for most of the new cuts. Defense Secretary Dick Cheney Al ready has proposed a draw Down of five army divisions As part of the next five year defense plan. Two divisions the 9th inf div at fort Lewis wash., and the 2nd army div at fort Hood Texas have been proposed for deactivation in the fiscal 1991 budget plan announced monday. The general feeling is that at least two of the other three divisions would come out of Europe and it s no big secret that one of them is Likely to be the8lh inf div the spokesman said. That division has been cited by Man defense experts As a top candidate for withdrawal from Europe because it is on the wrong Side of the Rhine River the West Side and would be hard civilian employees service . Contractor total army 87,812 18,011 105,823 Navy Marine corps 5,748 319 6,067 air Force 18,664 21,861 40,525 total 112,224 40,191 152.415 Sis Sharon Kilday soviet troops in Europe czech. Poland East Hungary Germany pressed to respond quickly to a Warsaw pact attack on the Central front. When you count the supporting units for two divisions and maybe a corps Headquarters you re getting pretty close to 50,000 troops right there the spokes Man  a v corps spokesman said thurs Day it was premature to speculate on which division if any would be Eli i  decision will certainly not be made on geographic locations of units exclusively maj. Samuel Taylor said. There arc certainly other factors involved in a decision of that magnitude other than that the 8th inf div is not located on the East West German Bor  s announcement generally Drew bipartisan Praise in Congress where Many democratic lawmakers have been calling for deeper defense cuts for  of the House Tom Foley. D wash., who delivered the democratic response to Bush s address said very substantial troop reductions Are not Only possible but.  sen. Sam Nunn d-ga., who Heads the Senate armed services committee pro posed More than a month ago that . Troop strength in Europe should be Cut to under 250,000. Following Bush s address Nunn said the president s new plan fits the Chang ing circumstances in Europe and the Fis Cal pressures Here at  but some on Capitol Hill took a slightly More jaded View. The plan in and of itself is a Good one. And you can make a very Good Case for saying that inc decision to announce it was the result of what s going on in Eastern Europe one congressional staffer  it s hard not think that a secon Dary goal in the timing of the announce ment was to deflect criticism of the presi Dent s defense spending plan for next year and make no mistake there arc a lot of people up Here waiting to criticize  is Susan Harris military family members in Europe army Navy Marine corps air Force total 188,742 15,611 772 108,013 314,355