WASHINGTON, Nov. 25 (UPI) -- President Bush announced Tuesday we should "realign the global posture of our forces" to better address the post-Cold War world and terrorist threats.
"Beginning today, the United States will intensify our consultations with the Congress and our friends, allies and partners overseas on our ongoing review of our overseas force posture," Bush said in a statement to the press.
"How it will all end up will depend in a major way on our discussions with our allies, friends and partners," U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told a Pentagon news conference.
The changes are expected to be made in response to two things: the end of the Cold War and diminution of the old Soviet threat, and the rise of terrorism in the Middle East, Asia and Central Asia.
Pentagon officials took pains Tuesday to deflect questions about the number of U.S. troops that will be moved, decisions that will greatly affect local and even national economies and may confer diplomatic and political cachet on new allies that allow U.S. military basing.
