Look abroad to close bases
Posted: Thu Mar 25, 2004 5:14 pm
If the Defense Department is looking for places where there are too many military bases, it should look overseas, says U.S. Sen. Trent Lott.
Lott, R-Miss., is critical of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's plan to liquidate American bases before looking at those in foreign lands. Lott has repeatedly said that domestic bases should be kept a top priority.
"I'm not saying, 'Let's become isolationists,' and draw out all of the troops'' from overseas, Lott told the Daily Times Leader newspaper of West Point. "I'm saying let's deploy fewer troops in a smarter manner.''
"We want to have a military force that is light, mobile and technologically advanced, so our needs are different around the world. We're still living in the World War II model,'' the senator said.
Rumsfeld's base closing report to Congress contains a memorandum from Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, saying the chiefs of the Navy, Army, Air Force and Marine Corps agree that more bases must be closed and realigned if the Pentagon is to meet the threats to America's national security.
The Pentagon has estimated the country has about 25 percent more bases than it needs. By closing the bases, the savings can be shifted elsewhere in the military budget.
A Base Realignment and Closure Commission will recommend to the president and Congress which military facilities should be shut down. All the state's defense facilities survived previous rounds of base closings in 1991, 1993 and 1995.
There are nine bases in eight communities in Mississippi, including pilot training facilities at Meridian, Columbus and Biloxi. A list of bases targeted for closure is expected to be released in May 2005.
Lott said military installations abroad should be examined first.
"We still have thousands of troops in Germany. Why? Are we defending them against the Soviet Union? It doesn't exist anymore.
"In Germany, they're saying, 'No, don't take your troops out.' Yet, when we needed the Germans in Iraq, where were they? They were hiding out with the French. So I think it's time to bring back some of our units in Europe,'' Lott said.
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Could not have said it better myself.
Lott, R-Miss., is critical of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's plan to liquidate American bases before looking at those in foreign lands. Lott has repeatedly said that domestic bases should be kept a top priority.
"I'm not saying, 'Let's become isolationists,' and draw out all of the troops'' from overseas, Lott told the Daily Times Leader newspaper of West Point. "I'm saying let's deploy fewer troops in a smarter manner.''
"We want to have a military force that is light, mobile and technologically advanced, so our needs are different around the world. We're still living in the World War II model,'' the senator said.
Rumsfeld's base closing report to Congress contains a memorandum from Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, saying the chiefs of the Navy, Army, Air Force and Marine Corps agree that more bases must be closed and realigned if the Pentagon is to meet the threats to America's national security.
The Pentagon has estimated the country has about 25 percent more bases than it needs. By closing the bases, the savings can be shifted elsewhere in the military budget.
A Base Realignment and Closure Commission will recommend to the president and Congress which military facilities should be shut down. All the state's defense facilities survived previous rounds of base closings in 1991, 1993 and 1995.
There are nine bases in eight communities in Mississippi, including pilot training facilities at Meridian, Columbus and Biloxi. A list of bases targeted for closure is expected to be released in May 2005.
Lott said military installations abroad should be examined first.
"We still have thousands of troops in Germany. Why? Are we defending them against the Soviet Union? It doesn't exist anymore.
"In Germany, they're saying, 'No, don't take your troops out.' Yet, when we needed the Germans in Iraq, where were they? They were hiding out with the French. So I think it's time to bring back some of our units in Europe,'' Lott said.
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Could not have said it better myself.
