Nice To See Someone Gets It

When President Bush recently announced the movement of large numbers of U.S. troops from Europe and Asia, of course Kerry at first agreed with idea then quickly reversed himself. This reevaluation of bases and troops was started by Clinton's administration. Jonathan Eyal of the Strait Times does a pretty good job of killing the myths in his piece titled, What's behind the big US troop reshuffle.

Democratic Senator John Kerry, his presidential opponent, quickly denounced the move, and the usual array of armchair commentators has been wheeled out, some praising Mr Bush's choice as farsighted and others castigating it as unfortunate.

Yet most of this is just electoral noise; regardless of who wins the White House this November, a realignment of the American military presence around the world remains inevitable.

It may be an unpleasant truth for Mr Kerry, but the re-evaluation of US bases was actually initiated by the administration of then president Bill Clinton, a fellow Democrat.