Posted on 05/01/2026 3:45:56 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
The US Department of Defence plans to withdraw 5,000 troops from Germany, amid a spat between US President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz over the war with Iran.
The decision comes a day after Trump criticised Merz, who suggested the US had been "humiliated" by Iranian negotiators.
In social media posts on Thursday, Trump said Merz was "doing a terrible job" and had "problems of all kinds", including on immigration and energy. Trump has also suggested pulling US troops from Italy and Spain.
The US has a significant military presence in Germany, with more than 36,000 active duty troops assigned to bases across the country as of last December.
In a statement, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the order had come from Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth.
"This decision follows a thorough review of the Department's force posture in Europe and is in recognition of theater requirements and conditions on the ground," he said.
"We expect the withdrawal to be completed over the next six to twelve months."
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Why are we guarding Germany? Is it necessary? I don’t think so.
5,000 is an outrageous amount. We can really cut back on a lot of these foreign military bases.
Why are we there in the first place? The Soviet Union is gone, the iron curtain is gone, and they don’t even want help against the greatest threat to Germany today: Islamic invasion.
Why are 340+ million Americans defending 500 million Europeans/Canadians from 150 million Russians?
More like 130 million Russians. Their demographics are terrible.
When I was a kid I lived in Germany. There were 5 American Air Force installations in the area plus 3 American hotels. And the biggest hospital in Germany. And 3 American housing areas. I went to elementary school for 3 years then left and came back for junior high and a year of high school. I think most of those places have closed but the school I went to for 1st grade is still there.
Why waste billions of dollars every year maintaining 36,000 troops in Germany?
Bring them all home.
Just 5.000? Bring home all of them and shut down the bases. Europe needs to protect themselves.
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This should have been done a long time ago.
How many troops does Germany have stationed here defending us?
If we achieve victory over the IRGC we can pare down a lot of bases in the middle east as well. The ‘Islamic Revolution’ has been a drag on us for many years.
Should have gone down to zero after the Warsaw Pact disbanded.
“Why waste billions of dollars every year maintaining 36,000 troops in Germany?”
Does Germany pay us for helping them with their defense?
143,394,458
Damn good start
We should redeploy them to Greenland.
10 years ago...
It sounds good to pull soldiers, but there are at least 4 bases there that we should maintain - Ramstein, Landstuhl, Hohenfels, Grafenwoehr. Not saying we need 36K soldiers, but those bases would be hard to replace.
Nope.
They just love America paying for it.
Look at Ukraine war under Biden.
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