- WASHINGTON (UPI) -- The United
States will pull out as many as a third of its 119,000 troops stationed
in Europe, London's Financial Times reported Wednesday.
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- "The days of the giant U.S. barracks ... are over,"
A NATO diplomat in Brussels told the newspaper. "(Troops) will be
sent on exercises or training missions to small bases established on a
temporary basis in Poland, Romania or Bulgaria."
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- Of the European presence, 80,000 U.S. troops are stationed
in Germany. At the height of the Cold War, Washington had more than 300,000
troops in western Europe.
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- Russia has warned against moves by NATO or the United
States to shift forces eastward once seven former communist countries join
the European Union in May.
-
- However, in Moscow last week, U.S. Secretary of State
Colin Powell assured Russian President Vladimir Putin Washington had no
intention of encircling Russia.
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- Copyright 2004 by United Press International. All rights
reserved.
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- http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story.asp?StoryId=Cqcb8ueidDxmTDhjVB3bZ
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