European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 9, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sunday february 9,1992senator says Congress Likely to reduce troops to 75,000 by Ron Jensen Niernberg Bureau Munich Germany a Congress May reduce the number of . Troops stationed in Europe to 75,000, a . Senator told a conference of defense experts saturday. Sen. William s. Cohen a Maine said the Bush administrations target of 150,000 troops As a minimum will probably not survive a congressional vote. Quot if i had to project i would say the number will come closer to 100,000 and perhaps 75,000,�?� Cohen told the Munich conference on Security policy. Cohen also said that nato must transform itself from a Structure heavily dependent on the United states to one More dependent on Europe. He also said the position of supreme Allied commander Europe should be held by a european. It has always been held by an american currently Gen. John r. Galvin. Cohen is one of nearly 200 defense experts taking part in the 29th annual con Ference. It has until this year been called the Weh Kunde conference but its founder Baron Ewald von Kleist changed the name to better describe its intent. Vice president Dan Quayle is to address the conference today. Conference organizers invited several leading . Legislators on defense issues. The list includes senators John Glenn a Ohio Richard g. Lugar Rind. John Mccain a Ariz William v. Roth jr., a Del. Larry Pressler . And Warren project Hope takes off on monday by Randy Pruitt staff writer Rhein main a Germany a beginning monday 54 american military planes will Start ferrying 2,250 tons of food and Medicine into what was the soviet Union. To the men and women working behind the scenes Here though operation project Hope As the humanitarian Airlift has been dubbed is already off the ground. Quot everyone is pumped up. Most of us were cold War babies and its hitting us All the same Way a said col. Donald Streater commander of the Streater 435th tac Airlift Wing. Quot a fundamental change in the world order is obvious  to Mark the occasion a ceremony featuring Secretary of state James a. Baker Iii is planned for 10 . At Frankfurt International Airport which is adjacent to Rhein main a. For the next two weeks military cargo planes will deliver the badly needed supplies into what was once. S4s Jimd erholm a member or the 435th Aerial port so at Rhein main a prepares a pallet or Lood. Enemy territory. Not since the withering of the .-soviet Alliance immediately following world War ii have so Many . Military planes ventured into airspace of the former soviet Empire. C-5, c-141 and c-130 transports will Fly out of Rhein main a and . Bases in Ankara and in Cirik in Turkey and will land at National Aeroflot airports in the 12 republics now designated the Commonwealth of Independent states. Seven of mondays 12 flights will be staged out of Turkey. Rhein main is the transportation Hub for operation project Hope. Quot this is staggering a Streater added. A a we be had humanitarian flights before but this is far and above anything we be Ever  the twisted irony of new relations see Hope on Page 3 Rudman . . House members invited included Les Aspin a wis. Beverly b. Byron did. Trent Lott a miss Norman Sisisky a a. And John r. Kasich a Ohio. Conferees used the opening session to describe a world of a a desperadoes with nuclear bombs and terrorists with chemical weapons who threaten a Security realized when the cold War ended tensions Between the East and West. Quot a new danger is looming because of see reduce on Page 2short-term insurance Ito Cost More by David Tarrant. St fit writer Washington the Cost of a Short term health insurance program available to an estimated 330,000 Scricc Mcm bars who will separate from the military this year is expected to Rise by 50 percent april 1, according to government and Industry sources. Mutual of Omaha which has sponsored the program for several years under a government agreement to provide temporary health insurance coverage for Servic embers after they leave the Mili Tail blamed the proposed rate increase on the fact that Tower than expect cd service members have purchased the plan in previous years a spokeswoman Saia. The health insurance plan called the uniformed services voluntary insurance plan or Uslip is meant to Bridge the Gap Between the time a service member leaves the military and when he becomes eligible for another health plan a usually through a new Job. The coverage can be purchased on a 90-Day basis and renewed every three months for up to one year after the service member leaves the military. The Cost of a 90-Day policy for a nonsmoking family of four where no one is older than age 29, for example would increase from $572 to $858. The Cost for the same family of four but with both husband and wife smoking would in see insurance on Page 2bush reportedly expands efforts to topple Saddam Washington apr president Bush has secretly authorized stepped up Covert activity to bring about the downfall of Iraq president Saddam Hussein a government source said saturday. One administration official said there May be an opening for anti Saddam activity based on reports of internal opposition. And Secretary of state James a. Baker i said saturday that Saddam is in a weaker position than he has been since the persian Gulf War a year ago. Bush s top secret authorization is an update of an earlier intelligence finding to try to reverse the iraqi leaders hold on Power said a source who spoke Only on condition of anonymity. The recently signed finding allows the Cia to engage in such activities As propaganda broadcasts and sex landed contacts with irate groups that oppose Saddam t represents an expansion of efforts begun after the .-led coalition Defeated Iraq the source said. Baker refused saturday to comment directly on whether such an Effort was being intensified. But in an interview on in no a news maker saturday he repeated the . Position saying a no one would shed any tears if there was a change of government Over  Baker said Only that Saddam is a considerably weaker in our opinion than he has been in the aftermath of the War. . Officials cite popular unrest that appears to be rising in the face of growing hunger and disease in Iraq. People battling to make ends meet have seen scarce food supplies including International food Aid go to the ruling elite and military. The los Angeles times reported saturday that Bush authorized setting aside $30 million in Cia contingency funds to weaken or topple the iraqi Leader. Bush has made no secret of his wish to see Saddam ousted. Saying there can be no Normal relations Between Washington and Baghdad As Long As Saddam remains he has urged the iraqi people and the military to Rise up against their Leader. A a in a like to see him out of there. I la just leave it right there a Bush told reporters Friday