European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 04, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse New shape for nato by . Apple or. New York times he Bush administration insists that it we Manta n us troop strength in Europe at 225.000, the new level proposed by president Bush in his state of Tho or on address wednesday . But the Pace of Pov ical change at abroad seems Likely to make that position in Ena o in Short order defense Secretary to d Tho armed services be that in a t forces left Europe 220.000 americans d to needed there 195.000 of them in Central Europe wry h primarily West Germany caution is needed he said because is Union remains the Only nation on Earth Caprio of destroying the United states " administration officials conceded that they had a Lough Case to sell but for the moment at least they said the president feels that he must to my the allies and keep the North Atlantic treaty organization healthy with West Germany firmly inked through nato to the West Al a time when Easl Germany s leaders Are talking of a unified Germany linked neither to East nor West partly at the insistence of the British and French and partly because of his oven concerns senior officials of several countries reported. Bush tucked into his speech this key qualification i agree with our european allies that a military presence in Europe is essential and that it should not be tied solely to the soviet military presence in Eastern Europe " what then should it be tied to9 How should it be justified when its who e purpose has been to deter or contain a ground attack by the soviets and erstwhile allies which a most everyone nov considers improbable what do ground forces have to do with the nuclear threat to which Cheney alluded7 James r Schluc Sager. A Democrat who was defense Secretary in the Ford administration called even before Bush s speech for elimination of All but a "residual1 Force of perhaps 50.000 troops in Europe abandoning his longstanding commitment to a Large scale deployment in Germany and elsewhere on the continent he said that the rationale for our european deployments is up Lor review and debate because the Warsaw pact s role As a military Alliance and a military threat has been largely broken " american deployments Schlesiger told the Senate armed services committee have been justified As a Symbol of commitment and. Since the 70s. As a part of a Stalwart conventional capability intended to help deter soviet or Warsaw pact attack that to e for the forces has now been superseded the and substantially reduced role for those forces is to provide negotiating in fact hat leverage May not be very important at least in getting soviet troops out of Central Europe the Central europeans Are already clamouring Lor them to go Home and Cheney conceded that the so it was Likely to comply with that request by 1995 while Cheney said that even that d not persuade the administration to Budge from its 225.000 figure a senior administration was considerably less firm at a briefing he said that 225.000 would stand for the foreseeable but conceded that he did t know How Long that would be sen Sam Nunn of Georgia the chairman of the armed service committee said in we need to be thinking right now about How far Down we want to go in troop strength m Europe and what we want our troops there to do " ii Progress is made toward German reunification if the conventional arms talks in Vienna Are concluded later this year and if the East germans and the czechs throw the bums out Nunn said then we face a is King or the rationale for deployment of . Force in Europe above boarding a uh-60blackhawk during an exe Clae la coming under increasing acre Tony became the Warsaw act s role As a military Alliance and a military threat has been largely broken James r. Schlesinger. At left As part of a soviet military withdrawal from Eastern Europe soviet tanks leave Hungary last May. Complete rebuilding of the policy we be been following since 1945 " it could All be happening by this time next year he added prime minister Margaret Thatcher of Britain and. To a lesser degree. President Francois Mitterrand of France have expressed concern repeatedly about too rapid shrinkage of nato not least because of their belief that the Best Chance of taming a reunited Germany would be to keep it within nato diplomats reported that France and Britain had insisted on setting a floor at 225.000 troops As a condition of their support forget about any guarantees Bush gave the allies said Daniel Ham ton of the Carnegie endowment a German specialist. To \. I to under pressure in a matter of months to go farther at least to 100,000. Maybe to 75.000 Tho real Agenda in can Days is being set by the pop o in the streets of eat can Europe not a Tho politicians in a a Huglon and of in part the allies and the Pentagon Are about what might happen in Central Europe if i Cha i s Gorbachev were to Loco control of events in Tho soviet Union or if eco Nonic Reform produced extreme social discontent in Poland or Romania a British a Ronister said recently that he thought the chances of Gorbachev s remaining in office a year from now were Only 60-40. In part they Are fearful that the fast Pace of change could produce the unravelling of nato weakening Atlantic Unity. Some european members of the Alliance including Belgium and the Netherlands have discussed pulling some of their troops out of Germany those harbouring such fears think rapid troop reductions in Europe now would be a mistake sen. John w Warner of Virginia. The ranking Republican on the armed services committee is one such person and he argued that this is the worst possible time to contemplate changes in strategy " largely unspoken but at least As important m Allied calculations is the belief that if the United slates pulls most of its forces out of Europe it will revert to its historic isolationist tendencies at least insofar As abandoning any pretence of guaranteeing the Security of Western Europe likewise there lurks beneath the surface of policy the notion that any further pullback would Rob the United states of whatever influence it is Likely to have in the shaping of the new Germany furl ice cuts would Cost us our place Al the table wherever and whenever the table is set for the big a senior policy maker commented bluntly the logic of German reunification or Al least federation which Bush has repeatedly said he welcomes works against the maintenance of significant foreign nato forces in West Germany or of soviet forces in Easl Germany a or Federated slate could hardly exist with rival camped within it and some animosity to . Forces has begun to develop in West Germany As the threat from Moscow has seemed to diminish to the vanishing Point in addition Tho logic of the soviet position works against the maintenance of Largo forces abroad. Having permitted its former client states to adopt multiparty systems having in essence blessed an anti soviet revolution there is Little justification Lor forcing russian troops on those same states Gennadi i Gerasimov. The spokesman for the soviet foreign ministry said that events in Europe ran ahead of diplomatic discussions and that Bush s insistence thai he needs troops in Europe from Here to eternity was not a Good the 225,000 figure must be the ceiling not the the soviet official said thai had been the phrase used by rep Les Asp. D who Heads the House armed services committee and it is to be the theme of much heated debate in the coming months february 4, 1990 stars and stripes Page 15
