US makes strategic retreat

‘‘One of the unstated goals of the (Iraq) war was to be able to lance that boil and get out of this steady state of a very high-level commitment of forces in an area where that not only wears out the force but causes all sorts of political problems,’’ said retired Army Gen. Joseph P. Hoar.

The plans are also in line with Defence Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld’s goal of transforming the military into a more agile, more easily deployed force. By cutting back on costly overseas deployments in places such as Saudi Arabia, where the Pentagon has spent more than $1 billion a year for much of the last decade, Rumsfeld hopes to have more money to spend on new technologies to modernise the armed forces.

Already in Europe, the Pentagon is reviewing its big military contingents in places such as Germany and has discussed replacing them with smaller units in Romania, Poland and Bulgaria where they could jump rapidly into hot spots. The decision to shrink what the Pentagon calls its ‘‘footprint’’ in West Asia does not, for now, affect the more than 160,000 US troops in Iraq. Pentagon officials said recently that it plans to maintain large numbers in Iraq for at least a year and probably longer. Defence and State Department officials have been relatively open about their hopes to use the US presence in Iraq as a stabilising force throughout the region.

If the Pentagon sticks to its own plans, troops number could shrink by more than 12,000 people and more than 100 aircraft within next one year. Weaponry stored for years in Kuwait are likely to remain. (LAT-WP)