CINCINNATI - "Nobody wants to bring troops home more than those of us who have fought in foreign wars," Kerry said in speech prepared for delivery to the Veterans of Foreign War. "But it needs to be done at the right time and in a sensible way. This is not that time or that way,"
Bush announced his plan to bring home troops from Cold War-era bases in Europe and Asia on Monday before an earlier session of the same gathering of 15,000 members of the VFW.
Kerry argued that Bush's policy would dangerously reduce forces at a time when the nation is fighting the al-Qaida terrorist network in 60 countries across the globe.
Kerry said the redeployment would undermine relations with U.S. allies needed to help fight in Iraq and in the war on terror.
By "undermine relations with U.S. allies" me must mean decimate the economy of Germany which has become dependent on the U.S. military bases present within its borders, which isn't something that should bother us. What allegiances do we owe Germany? Why should we leave our troops deployed in that country for the sake of propping up their economy?
And Kerry's claim that this move hurts the war on terror and our national security is bull. The troops are being pulled back from these locations as the first step in a major re-alignment of global U.S. military deployment. Our global security priorities have changed since the Cold War. We're re-deploying our troops to reflect that.
This isn't about bringing troops home, this is about moving our troops to make the war on terror and the mission of keeping this country safe easier.