Tories to pull British forces out of Germany

[FarCenter]

British forces will pull out of Germany for good, nearly 70 years after the Allied victory in World War Two, as part of a Tory defence "revolution" being drawn up by Dr Liam Fox.

The Shadow Defence Secretary told The Daily Telegraph that ending Britain’s 25,000 strong military presence on the Rhine would be part of a fundamental reorganisation of Nato forces designed to free troops for military operations outside Europe.

The decision would close one of the unfinished chapters of the last war that saw the British military go from occupying force in the ruins of Nazi Germany in 1945 to guarantor of German security against the threat of Soviet invasion during the Cold War.

The announcement of what would be a major reassessment of Britain’s role in European defence came just 24 hours after the European Union surprised Westminster by handing responsibility for its diplomatic relations to the Labour peer Baroness Ashton.

Dr Fox’s decision to call time on Britain’s military links with Germany is a signal of his determination to force through a “wholesale recasting of our foreign and defence policy”.

He also called for the public to be told the truth about the “cost of defeat” in Afghanistan, including Britain being relegated to “the third division” of world politics.

He gave warning that setting a timetable for withdrawal would “tell our allies that we quit if the going gets tough and it says to our enemies that they may be able to outlast us”.

<SNIP>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/defence/6617358/Tories-to-pull-British-forces-out-of-Germany.html

[msongs]

1. time for the US to do the same thing asap nt

[vadawg]

2. hell no, time to campaign to keep the BAOR......

[Posteritatis]

3. That war cast some looooooong shadows. (nt)