The withdrawal of a combat brigade from Romania is sending the wrong message to Putin, writes the Wall Street Journal
The US 3rd Infantry Division replaced the 1st Armored Division on Monday in a ceremony at Mihail Kogălniceanu Air Base. PHOTO: Regina Koesters, US Army
It wouldn't be risky to bet that most Americans wouldn't even notice that the US is withdrawing a ground army brigade from Romania, but you can bet without any emotion that Vladimir Putin will notice, notes The Wall Street Journal in an opinion.
This restructuring of US forces abroad reflects a broader debate within the Trump administration about America's position in the world, and Republican leaders in Congress have already expressed alarm.
The Army confirmed last week that soldiers from a combat brigade from the 101st Airborne Division will return to Kentucky “without being replaced.” The Romanian Ministry of Defense qualified the decision as “an effect of the new priorities of the presidential administration” – in other words, of Trump's Pentagon. About 1,000 American soldiers will remain in the country, the US military presence in Romania being a small one, compared to the approximately 85,000 troops deployed throughout the continent.
But the US has begun to thin its fighting force on NATO's eastern flank just as Putin is stepping up his drone incursions and other methods of testing the Western alliance, while refusing to end his war in Ukraine. The decision was denounced by the exponents of the militaristic faction of Republicans in Congress, who are loyal to the president and are not in the habit of contradicting him without good reasons.
The decision “sends the wrong message” to Putin, the chairmen of the Senate and House military oversight committees, Republicans Roger Wicker and Mike Rogers, said in a statement. Romania, the two note, is a reliable ally that has hosted a US anti-missile defense detachment since 2016. The two presidents asked the administration for assurances that they do not intend to withdraw two armored brigades from Poland.
Trump may not even know it, but some of his Pentagon advisers want an even wider withdrawal from Europe. A fact that would make it difficult for the president to negotiate a lasting peace in Ukraine. What America needs is for more of its forces in Europe to move further east to the Baltics, not west back to the US.
Rogers and Wicker offer the president some valuable advice: Now is not the time to be hesitant about deterrence in Europe.
Article made with the support of Rador Radio Romania
