Source: http://www.euobserver.com/?sid=9&aid=17090

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US to withdraw thousands of troops from Europe
16.08.2004 - 09:43 CET | By Honor Mahony

US President George W. Bush is expected to announce later today that the
US is pulling at least 70,000 troops out of Europe and Asia in what is
likely to be the biggest restructuring of US force since the end of the
Cold War.

Germany is expected to bear the brunt of it.

About 45,000 of the troop reduction will come from Europe - mainly from
Germany which has about 75,000 US servicemen stationed in the country,
according to the Financial Times.

"In Asia and Europe for many months now we've had a series of official
visits where both the why and the wherefore of this initiative have been
discussed, have been briefed and have been, I think, quite well
received, both in Europe and Asia," said General James Jones, head of
the US's European command, quoted by the newspaper.

Washington views the troops and bases countries such as Germany and
South Korea as outdated.

The restructuring is part of America's war on terrorism.

More than 100,000 US soldiers are currently deployed in Europe, with
around 100,00 other in the Pacific and Asia.

Some 150,000 troops are in Iraq and Afghanistan.