-->bis zu 70.000 können es werden; da wird denn bei ner Menge
Kleingewerbetreibenden and den div. Standorten das heulende Elend
ausbrechen...


NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--The U.S. is expected to announce Monday that it is pulling 100,000 troops out of Europe and Asia in the largest restructuring of its global military presence since the second world war, the Financial Times reports in an article on its Web site Friday.

According to people briefed on the plan, two-thirds of the reductions will come in Europe, where 70,000 uniformed personnel, most of them from Germany, will be sent back to U.S. bases. Although Germany will remain home to the largest contingent of U.S. forces on the continent, both army divisions currently based there - the 1st Armored and 1st Infantry - could be sent home to U.S. bases, the FT said.

Germany will continue to be home to sophisticated training and command facilities and to a mobile infantry force, equipped with the army's new light-armored Stryker vehicles, which is expected to form the core of a restructured European presence, according to the newspaper.

The announcement is scheduled to be outlined in a speech by U.S. President George W. Bush, details of which were still being debated on Friday inside the administration. People briefed on the plan warned that timing on the announcement could shift, given that some details were still being ironed out, the newspaper said.

In Asia, the draw-down is expected to include the 3,500-soldier brigade from South Korea, recently deployed to Iraq, but will also include scaling down presences in several other countries in the region, the FT reports.

The navy's European headquarters, which has been in London since the second world war, will be moved to Naples, Italy, according ot the paper.

Fox News reported earlier Friday that sources say some troops in South Korea and Germany will be moved to new North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries in eastern Europe.

Some troops in Asia will be repositioned and some will be brought back to the U.S., according to the Fox News report