Commentary by H.G. Listiak

Friday 11/21/2003

Welcome to my world. The war against terrorism is changing the way the American military does business. Agility is now the key, with more mobile camps taking the place of our permanent bases overseas. Troops would be deployed in rotation, without the long tours of duty. They would be without their families, thus avoiding the cost of building and operating schools, churches, and shopping centers, comforts, for the most part, for military dependents. Ramstein in Germany costs over a billion dollars a year to operate. The hassle with Germany over going to war in Iraq makes several bases there targets for closure. The city of Mainz, proud of it's wine festivals and thriving media industry is all upset over the possible loss of their largest asset, an asset they don't talk about, the U.S. Military. Mainz is the capital of the Rhineland-Palatinate state, where the unwanted American Military pumps 1.4 billion dollars a year into their economy, generating 27 thousand civilian jobs taking care of 63 thousand soldiers and their families. They have even sent a delegation to the Pentagon trying to sell the Joint Chiefs on the idea that Germany is the best place in the world for the U.S. Military. The bottom line here is that we have been in Germany since World War Two and with today's modern military, it's not a strategic location unless we want to protect maybe the French again. Add that to the fact that they refused to help, even tried to scuttle our efforts in Iraq, and it's clear to me that they don't care about Americans, unless they are dead Presidents printed on a piece of green paper. It's time to say auf Wiedersehen to the Germans as I see it ... I'm H.G. Listiak.