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February 10, 2012
British troops to leave Germany under Tories
Published: 21 Nov 09 09:32 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/national/20091121-23419.html
Britain's opposition Conservatives, tipped to win power in a general election next year, said on Saturday they would pull the country's 25,000 troops out of Germany as part of a reorganisation of NATO forces.
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Opinion polls put the Conservatives, led by David Cameron, on course to oust Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Labour party in an election which must be held by next June.
"If other countries are willing to take up roles in continental defence, that leaves Britain and France able to take on expeditionary roles," Fox said.
"Finding a more creative diplomatic solution in NATO will be a priority for an incoming Conservative government... it's more important that we have more effective burden sharing so we can be freed up from some responsibilities."
Calls for NATO allies to step up their contributions to operations in Afghanistan, where Britain has 9,000 troops in the second largest deployment after the United States, have caused tension within the alliance.
Fox said: "We need to be clear that there are constitutional and political reasons why some NATO countries will not be able to do the same amount when it comes to expeditionary warfare.
"We can either hammer on about burden sharing, or we can start looking at what countries will be able to do within their political, constitutional and military constraints.
"Far better in NATO that countries have roles which they are 100 percent willing to carry out."
Britain has about 25,000 troops in Germany alongside US forces. They were initially stationed there to guarantee German security against the Soviets in the Cold War and retained in order to ensure NATO could respond quickly to events on the continent.
AFP/The Local (news@thelocal.de)
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Your comments about this article:
However this is nothing new. Labour will do the same thing. Truth be known, if there was enough real estate in the UK they would have moved them long ago.
With so many of their costumers leaving they have much harder times ahead.
But since 1989 , it was always clear that the day would come.
I doubt that the soldiers and their families are all that happy about it either.
(The loss of real (English)men will be most felt by German women!!!!)
I doubt that. The closure of Sembach in 2005 was the last.
The Grafenwöhr base is being restructered at the moment to become THE main logistical linchpin for all current or possible future u.s deployments in the middle east with Ramstein and Spangdahlem being refurbished for ongoing air mobility in and out of the region.
This is another example where once again the media take a comment, twist it and create a story that doesn't match the facts. Moving troops from Germany back to the UK would not free them up to deployment in say Afghanistan as the article claims, because those British troops in Germany alaready deploy on operations much as the US forces did.
Eventually as the British Army is restructered and bases are built in the UK to house them then most troops will leave Germany, but as part of NATO then some troops will always need to be stationed alongside their counterparts for training purposes.
Some might consider these as occupational forces, but that is a thought stuck in the past. For some time they are partners of European defence and contribute massively to the local economies.
Perhaps if anything this could be seen as a criticism - Germany, throw off your shackles of the past and contribute fully in a meaningful way to the war in Afghanistan along side your NATO partners.
Your comments are most eloquent. "Occupational forces" a "thought stuck in the past" -- beautiful.
Particularly like your last paragraph!!!!!
The reason we are still here is because of what happened 60 years ago. That has evolved into strategic alliances with Germany where both Germany AND the US, England and France benefit. Hell, we even pay a hefty rent for the bases we use here. So I can hardly see where we are "occupation" forces
Don't you all read newspapers?????