USAREUR commander wants to keep 40,000 American soldiers in Europe

[unhappycamper]

USAREUR commander wants to keep 40,000 American soldiers in Europe
By Lisa Burgess, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Friday, October 12, 2007


ARLINGTON, Va. — A “resurgent Russia” is one more reason the Army should keep 40,000 soldiers in Europe, rather than cut to 24,000 as planned, the commander of United States Army Europe, Gen. David McKiernan, said Thursday.

“There are potentially dangerous places and conditions in the European area of responsibility,” said McKiernan, who is also commander of the U.S. 7th Army. “We don’t know what’s going to happen, in terms of a resurgent Russia.”

McKiernan told reporters in Washington that U.S. military commanders are monitoring Russia for indications that its military is once again on the rise.

“We keep an eye on certain indicators, some of which we’ve seen already,” such as a resumption of long-range reconnaissance flights, “arms sales to nation- states that has differences with,” and indications that Russia is becoming involved with border conflicts in Georgia and Azerbaijan, he said.

“I think what would be troublesome would be overt military actions outside of Russia to influence things,” McKiernan said. “We have to keep an eye on this and see how it plays out.”


Rest of article at: http://stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=49444



uhc comment: Empire is costly.