US Asian Forces Set For Australia?

Bush's plan to withdraw up to 70,000 troops from overseas bases contained few specifics, particularly about Asia... Although Pentagon officials have said the troop realignment plan includes pulling about 30,000 soldiers from Germany, they have said nothing about Asia.

Any educated Australian observer would hazard a good guess that many of the excess US forces from Japan and South Korea will be coming here. A new US base was recently announced near Townsville, plus I believe a couple of other smaller sites were mentioned.

Of course, Howard's Australian government is never going to announce a major build-up of US troops on our soil just prior to an election, is he? Reporters should seek an unequivicol statement from the PM saying there will be no major relocation of US forces to Australia.

On the other hand, he once said there would be "Non GST. Ever." And look what happened. With his credibility now utterly in tatters, there is no way Howard can lead the nation any longer.