If anything, moving out would be good to stop the b1tching. My ear is starting to hurt now.

Ahem, let me back up a sec and give a humble apology to our friends the Brits. I didn't mean that post as a slap to you guys, one bit.

Strangely, I never equate Great Britain with Europe. I'm not sure why, but in my mind the two don't connect; obviously they do, but I've always seen England as separate.

My apologies. I didn't mean to include England in the "Europe" statement. Feel free to attack me over an insult to the capabilities of the French and otherwise, but remember that I did not direct those comments towards Great Britian.

Originally Posted by 7.62

I'm not saying a withdrwal of half of the troops would be bad, I'm saying a COMPLTETE withdrawl would be disastrous. Terrorists would more than likely strike, look at what they did in Spain. Look at what happened in the 20s and 30s with Germany after we pulled out.

America NEVER had troops in Germany until WW2 and there are still U.S. bases in Spain. What did they do to stop the Madrid terrorist attacks?

All American troops must leave Europe immediately since European taxpayers are actually subsidizing their stay here, which is outrageous. Furthermore, the U.S. military is leasing the land their bases are built on for less than it's actually worth. There is no immediate security threat that European armed forces can't handle but Americans could. The only negative aspect this pullout would have for Europe would be rising unemployment in areas surrounding U.S. bases that employ indigenous civilians. This effect can be countered by transferring indigenous troops into these former U.S. bases.

I too hold the UK at a different standard to continental Europe.

There is a large presence of US troops in Germany. I take it that the US is using the country as large a Military Complex to station troops off-shore, which I feel very uncomfortable with.

Originally Posted by rkmac48

If we withdrew from Europe completely, Muslim terrorists would light that place up. They'd be complete goners. Our withdrawal would be a total nightmare for Europe.

Which leads to an ethical decision. Personally, I'd love to see something like that happen; they hate the United States so much, but without us to bail them out, they wouldn't exist. On the other hand, we in the States have an obligation to keep the world safe and to stem the tide of terrorism.


So it's a mess. Maybe an increased threat of terrorism in Europe'll make them show us just a little more respect.

Sorry, but what you said is total nonsense.

IMO there is no more pressing need for a large US troop presence in Europe, particularly Germany, now that the threat of Soviet invasion is a thing of the past.

I dont understand why the US or britain needs troops in germany anymore, it doesnt pose a threat and the USSR is no longer sitting on our doorstep. I dont know why you hold the UK as seperate to Europe. France has a highly professional intelligence service and military, and so does germany, spain, italy etc. all who are used to fighting terrorists - eta, Red brigade etc.

France has a highly professional intelligence service and military, and so does germany,

Hehe their intelligence service cant be that good as our police managed to catch them but they cant catch 51% of our own criminals.

all who are used to fighting terrorists - eta, Red brigade etc.

This is true though, Germany in particular seems very good at catching them.

I believe the US needs to keep forces there to mantain peace. Indeed we've been there for a longtime but if we withdraw our forces theres no telling what will happen. Just like Iraq.