With massive budget cuts looming, the withdrawal of the last U.S. troops from Iraq and a drawdown of U.S. combat troops from Afghanistan slated to be completed by 2014, military leaders are re-evaluating the scope and focus of the military, and that is raising questions about how large a force is needed in Europe and where it should be located.
This is short-sighted. We need a robust presence of ground and air power in Europe to project power into the arc of crisis stretching from Morocco to Afghanistan and Pakistan, to keep our NATO allies engaged and able to work with us in the field, to reassure allies and keep them democratic and working together rather than revisiting old hatreds, and to guard against the rise of threats to Europe that would require large scale intervention in Europe as we did in 1917-1918, 1943-1945, and 1949-1991 when the USSR collapsed.
We can pray that Europe stays peaceful or that we don't need ready bases in Europe. But a prayer and a large dose of preparedness would be much better.
It's still not over, over there. Send the word. Stay in Europe.
