WASHINGTON (AP) - Two Army divisions will return to the United States from Germany as part of a global military restructuring that President Bush says will bring up to 70,000 American troops home in the next decade.
Pentagon officials said Monday the 1st Armored Division and 1st Infantry Division probably won't start leaving their bases in Germany until 2006 at the earliest. They will be replaced by a brigade - a much smaller unit - equipped with Stryker armored vehicles, which are much lighter and quicker than the M1A1 Abrams tanks used by the divisions they will replace.
The more than 70,000 U.S. troops in Germany are a legacy of the Cold War, when they faced off with forces of the former Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact. Each division has about 10,000 to 15,000 soldiers.
The United States will close nearly half of its hundreds of installations in Europe as part of the massive restructuring plan, three senior defense officials and a State Department official told Pentagon reporters on condition of anonymity. A Pentagon spokesman said the officials had to speak anonymously because ``President Bush made the announcement.''
That announcement came in Cincinnati on Monday morning, where Bush told a Veterans of Foreign Wars convention that the moves were meant to enable the United States to react more quickly to developing trouble spots.
``Our armed forces have changed a lot. ... They're better able to strike anywhere in the world ... on short notice,'' Bush said. ``Yet for decades America's armed forces have essentially remained where the wars of the last century have ended - in Europe and in Asia.''
The Pentagon and State Department officials offered few specifics about the plan, saying negotiations with U.S. allies continue. Particularly sensitive are talks involving Japan, which hosts more than 40,000 U.S. troops, and South Korea, where officials say about one-third of the 37,000 U.S. troops stationed there will be leaving in coming years.
The changes would not affect the more than 150,000 U.S. troops involved in or supporting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The restructuring has been discussed for years. Bush administration officials say the realignment is needed to move from a Cold War structure to a more flexible one better suited to the war against terrorism.
At the Cincinnati convention, veterans wearing the group's trademark caps covered with colorful pins gave Bush a warm welcome. Democratic presidential challenger John Kerry addresses the group Wednesday.
The president said the repositioning of forces would help save money on maintaining bases overseas and give troops and their families more stability.
``Our service members will have more time on the home front, and more predictability and fewer moves over a career,'' Bush added.
His speech came as the U.S. death toll in Iraq was approaching 1,000 and National Guard and Reserve troops were serving extended tours of duty.
Kerry aides blame a lack of postwar planning by the Bush administration for the increased burden shouldered by reservists and guard members. They also note that the Massachusetts senator has proposed adding 40,000 troops to the regular Army and expanding special operations forces.
The Democrat has said he would try to withdraw some troops from Iraq during his first six months in office. Bush has criticized that idea, saying would inspire insurgents to wait until the U.S. presence was thinned before attacking.
The VFW convention is getting special attention from both political parties partly because it is being held in Ohio, perhaps the hottest battlefield of this year's election. Bush carried Ohio by 3.6 percentage points in 2000 over Democrat Al Gore.
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