Lawmakers in both parties are panning the Trump administration’s plan to pull nearly 12,000 U.S. troops out of Germany.
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) …
Lawmakers in both parties are panning the Trump administration’s plan to pull nearly 12,000 U. S. troops out of Germany. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) blasted the move as a “grave error,” while Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) said President Trump shows a “lack of strategic understanding.” “Once more, now with feeling: U. S. troops aren’t stationed around the world as traffic cops or welfare caseworkers – they’re restraining the expansionary aims of the world’s worst regimes, chiefly China and Russia,” Sasse said in a statement. Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin “are reckless – and this withdrawal will only embolden them,” Sasse added. “We should be leading our allies against China and Russia, not abandoning them. Withdrawal is weak.“ Republicans and Democrats alike have been pushing back since reports first surfaced last month that Trump was on the verge of a massive drawdown in Germany, but the latest comments come after Defense Secretary Mark Esper filled in details of a plan he argued would help the United States deter Russia, contrary to criticism. Right now, about 36,000 U. S. troops are stationed in Germany, which is home to the headquarters for U. S. European and Africa commands. Under the plan outlined by Esper on Wednesday, about 11,900 troops are set to leave Germany. About 5,600 of them will move elsewhere in Europe, while about 6,400 will come back to the United States. For those returning to the United States, many will be turning around and conducting rotational deployments into Europe, Esper added. Esper cast the move as a strategic realignment of forces that had been in the works for months, saying Trump’s June decision merely accelerated the process. But Trump has repeatedly cast the move as punishment for Germany not fulfilling NATO’s goal of countries spending at least 2 percent of their gross domestic product on defense.
