North-Middle East, U.S. Focuses on Immediate Measures

The largest scale relocation of U.S. forces stationed overseas since 1950 is currently being carried out as the U.S. views the ‘arc of instable countries’ more potentially threatening than China, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday.

The ‘arc of instability’ indicates regions financially unstable and known as centers for global terrorists such as the Caribbean, Africa, the Caucasus mountains, Central Asia, Middle East, South Asia, and North Korea.

The anxiety about this arc of instability influences the type of training the U.S. soldiers get, the equipment U.S. forces purchase, and the disposition of the troops, the Journal reported in its latest issue. The following is the summary.

The Pentagon leased 750 acres of land last month near Manas Air Base in Kyrgyzstan where bombers from the former Soviet Union used to be deployed. The base was borrowed in December 2001 for the Afghanistan war, but has since transformed into a semi-permanent base. The base is a point of strategic importance as it enables U.S. forces to readily respond to terrorists in Central Asia and hence signifies the change in the U.S. defense strategy as it suggests that the U.S. puts priority on dealing with the unprecedented destructive power of terrorists.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is trying to redeploy some 1.4 million U.S. soldiers stationed in the U.S., Germany and South Korea. 80% of U.S. soldiers are stationed in the three countries.

The strategy aims to reduce the response time of U.S. forces to hours, from days or even months for conflicts in any region around the world. The U.S. therefore is sending its troops to areas nearly impossible to find on any map.

U.S. troops are not deployed at all the bases. Bases in Azerbaijan, Mali, and Kenya as well as the Horn of Africa will be only used once or twice a year for training U.S. soldiers and attacking terrorist hideouts.

On the other hand, bases which will be constructed in Kyrgyzstan, Romania, and the Philippines are planned to be used as advance bases for offensive operations in case of emergency.

Now high speed catamaran ships about 100 feet long are now being highlighted under the new strategy as they can reach 3600km in 48 hours, twice as fast as other transport ships.

The Pentagon is planning to reflect its budget next year by increasing the current number of three catamaran ships up to a few dozen and urge other allied nations to purchase the catamaran ships.

There is, however, criticism on dispersing U.S. troops all across the globe, as it can weaken its defense capabilities against other major powers.

Eun-Taek Hong euntack@donga.com