May 02, 2004

Germany Says Protection of U.S. Bases to End

German Defense Minister Peter Struck said Germany will stop protecting U.S. military bases in the country at the end of 2004 and would not send troops to help a NATO force police Iraq, a newspaper reported Sunday.
[That's not part of the NATO deal, Krauts, to be able to pick and choose your battles.--Jen]

"We want to put an end to the German army's protection of American installations by the end of the year," said Struck in an interview with Welt am Sonntag. "We're now negotiating an end to the guarding process."

A Defense Ministry spokesman said discussions about ending the German army's policing of U.S. bases had been going on since the start of the year.

"The United States is gearing itself up for this accordingly," the spokesman said.

Can you believe this?!?
The nerve (or dare I say it, chutzpah?).
Wasn't it the other way around for 45 years--our bases protected Germany?
I hope we made the decision to pull our troops out of Deutschland and move them elsewhere (like Poland) long BEFORE the Germans made this statement, allowing them to act as if it were "their call."
Do we even get a Danke Schön?
We paid in men, materiel and money to keep them safe from a Soviet invasion for five decades and while we were there protecting their heinies, our troops spent lots of money and helped their economy, too... If you don't think that matters, ask the Philippines if they miss Americans since we closed our big base there!
Good riddance to bad rubbish and Auf Wiedersehen!