The Trump administration’s decision to withdraw nearly 12,000 soldiers from Germany has been the subject of a bipartisan attack in the Senate, amid warnings that it would disrupt U.S. alliances.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo rejected pushy questions in the Senate on Thursday, and in doing so falsely claimed that he had fought along the East German border when he was posted there as a lieutenant in the army in the late 1990s. 1980. There was no fighting in Germany during the Cold War.
The Pentagon has insisted that the withdrawal was ordered as part of a general strategic repositioning of U.S. forces abroad, but Donald Trump made it clear that it saw it as punishment for Germany for not spending enough on defense.
Pompeo said the state department had been part of the redistribution discussion, which involves 6,400 soldiers brought to the United States and another 5,500 to other places in Europe, mainly Belgium and Italy.
Questioning Pompeo at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, Democrat Jeanne Shaheen said: “The only country that has publicly supported the withdrawal of US troops from Germany today has been Russia.”
Republican Senator Mitt Romney, reflecting widespread concern in the Republican Party about the measure, told Pompeo: “I have heard from the highest levels of the German government that they see this as an insult to Germany, and I cannot imagine At a time when we need to attract our friends and allies so that we can collectively confront China, we want to insult them. “
Pompeo insisted that the withdrawal of the troops to the United States did not mean that they were “out of the field.”
“These units will participate in rotation activities. They will unfold forward, ”he said. “They will not be stationed or trimmed, but make no mistake about it, they will be fully available to ensure that we can adequately process the challenges we have from global powers.”
His comments seemed to reflect the Department of Defense’s assurances that troops brought back to the US would be available for temporary travel in the Baltic states, Poland, or the Black Sea region.
When Shaheen pressured him about the impact of the withdrawal on the relationship with Berlin, Pompeo did not respond directly, but said: “This is personal to me. I fought on the East German border when I was a young soldier. It was parked there.
Pompeo served as a lieutenant in a tank regiment in West Germany from 1986 to 1991, during which time the east-west border was completely peaceful. He did not participate in any combat during his military career.
Shaheen reminded him that his old unit was one of those that were removed to the United States. Foreign Policy quoted Defense Department documents Thursday that troops in Germany were informed that the redeployment “would probably take months to plan and years to execute.”
Trump has said he ordered the measure because Germany was not spending enough on its own defense and American taxpayers were being “taken for fools.”
However, Germany has recently increased its spending and has said it is on track to meet the 2% of GDP target for defense spending that NATO set for 2024.
Belgium and Italy, where many US troops will be relocated, spend less than Germany as part of national income.
Diplomats and former officials have suggested that Trump’s decision may have been prompted by personal encouragement towards Germany and his chancellor, Angela Merkel.
Fox News reported in June that the withdrawal was the idea of the German ambassador, Richard Grenell, in retaliation for Angela Merkel’s decision not to attend a G7 summit at Camp David at the height of the pandemic.
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