In 1954 during the battle of Dien Bien Phu, France begged America for airstrikes to break the communist siege of the encircled French forces. Eisenhower declined to intervene. He was very wary of another land war so soon after Korea. The U.S. asking for Europe’s help opening the Straits of Hormuz and being rebuffed has some echos from the past.
I understand the President’s visceral anger with the lack of support from NATO. And in some ways it is justified (no over flights of France, Spain and Italy). However in my opinion pulling troops out of bases in NATO is not in our best interest. We need the bases in the Mediterranean to maintain and supply the Sixth Fleet so we don’t cede the Mediterranean and the Suez Canal to the Chinese in the coming years. We need the ballistic missile early warning stations in Romania, Poland and Greenland. We need the hospital in Landstuhl. We need the logistics hub in Ramstein to support our forces in the Near/Middle East and Africa. We need access to the facilities at Diego Garcia. We need to find another way to demonstrate our anger (maybe move the headquarters of the Sixth Fleet from Naples to Split Croatia?), but we shouldn’t cut off our nose to spite our face.
I understand the President’s visceral anger with the lack of support from NATO. And in some ways it is justified (no over flights of France, Spain and Italy). However in my opinion pulling troops out of bases in NATO is not in our best interest. We need the bases in the Mediterranean to maintain and supply the Sixth Fleet so we don’t cede the Mediterranean and the Suez Canal to the Chinese in the coming years. We need the ballistic missile early warning stations in Romania, Poland and Greenland. We need the hospital in Landstuhl. We need the logistics hub in Ramstein to support our forces in the Near/Middle East and Africa. We need access to the facilities at Diego Garcia. We need to find another way to demonstrate our anger (maybe move the headquarters of the Sixth Fleet from Naples to Split Croatia?), but we shouldn’t cut off our nose to spite our face.
