Kerry's stance on Troop Redeployment

Troop Redeployment: It is a plan to call for the withdrawal of American troops from other countries.

John Kerry:

Description of candidate's position: Kerry thinks Bush's action undermines US security and breaks the promise to the military. Also, it will be expensive. Even though the president wants to bring troops home, it needs to be done in right time and right way. Kerry is opposed to call for the withdrawal of the troops from Asia and Europe, and he plans to add 40,000 active duty troops, double the capability of Army Special Forces, and complete the process of transformation.

Quotation from the candidate for troop redeployment: "Kerry said. "For example, why are we unilaterally withdrawing 12,000 troops from the Korean Peninsula at the very time we are negotiating with North Korea &endash; a country that really has nuclear weapons?" August 18, 2004

Assessment of the proposal:

Positive: South Korea is concerned that the departure of large number of U.S. troops could leave a security vacuum at a time when the international community is trying to persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons development. South Korea wants more time to bolster its defense before the U.S. redeployment.

Negative: Pentagon officials defended the redeployment plan as an escalation, rather than a diminution, of US military power. In particular, they insisted that the withdrawal of 12,500 of the 37,000 US troops stationed in South Korea would not blunt their belligerent attitude toward North Korea. Defense Department officials have stressed that US "war fighting capacity" in the Korean peninsula is stronger than ever, citing a greater reliance on precision-guided Ågsmart bombsÅh and naval power.

Comparison: Bush says that the US armed forces have become "more agile and more lethal...better able to strike anywhere in the world over great distances on short notice," and he claim that bringing the troops back to the US was meant to give military personnel and their spouses the ability to "spend more time with their families at home." Kerry says his "plans to reshape and rebuild our American military so that it is ready to fight tomorrow's wars," and he continuously invokes a global and never-ending "war on terror:" to justify Washington's methods and aims. Link

Link to Bush's troop redeployment issue page.