EUCOM commander hopes Gates will halt drawdown

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EUCOM commander hopes Gates will halt drawdown
By Charlie Coon, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Saturday, November 24, 2007

KABUL, Afghanistan — The top U.S. military commander in Europe said Thursday he is optimistic that Defense Secretary Robert Gates will halt the relocation of Europe-based troops to the continental United States.

Gen. Bantz J. Craddock was responding to news reports that Gates already had decided to stop an ongoing drawdown, which calls for two Army brigades to leave Germany by around 2010.

Craddock ordered a troop-to-task analysis to determine future troop needs in Europe. In June he forwarded the analysis and his recommendations to Gates.

“I’m optimistic,” Craddock said. “If does portend a decision, I think it is a very good one. “Forward deployed forces provide habitual relationships that provide greater value in enduring relationships. That’s the difference.”

Craddock, who is also the supreme allied commander Europe, was traveling in Afghanistan with NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.

Shortly after taking command of the U.S. European Command and NATO’s military forces last December, Craddock expressed concern that he did not have enough Europe-based forces to conduct ample bilateral and multilateral military engagements with U.S. allies.


Rest of article at: http://stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=50486