I haven't known quite what to make of Bush's announcement about a plan to reshuffle troop levels in Europe & Asia, but a column in the LA Times shed some light on the issue. Here's a summary:
In short, though proposals like Bush's once sparked fears of American isolationism, they now are igniting concerns about unilateralism.
Essentially, the fear is that by stationing more troops in the US, we would be able to deploy them without having to get permission to use bases, airspace, etc. So when Bush talks about "flexibility" he could mean "the ability to invade/bomb/attack whoever the hell we want without having to get the diplomats involved." Given recent history, I think there's some reason to be concerned about this motive.
Posted by Jason at August 18, 2004 01:24 PM