Quotes of the Day

When George W. Bush announced a major recall of around 70,000 U.S. troops from Europe and Asia, he kicked off an argument in the U.S. — but the reaction in Europe was muted. Challenger John Kerry said the plan shortchanges U.S. allies and the war on terrorism: "This is clearly the wrong signal to send at the wrong time," he said in a speech to veterans. But in Germany, where the cuts will hurt the most, they were portrayed as an overdue change in mission that will mostly be felt in the small towns where the soldiers are based; one trade union forecast the loss of 7,500 German jobs.

"This is a serious loss for those regions," says Defense Minister Peter Struck. There was little criticism of the change in U.S. strategy. "Let's face it, the cold war is over," says Jean-Vincent Brisset, a military expert at France's Institute for International and Strategic Relations. "The U.S. forces came to save Europe, but their presence today doesn't fit with current doctrine."

The larger issue is whether the recall, set to begin in 2006, will degrade a transatlantic alliance already damaged by Iraq. "It's not a strategic divorce," says Jeff Gedmin, director of the Aspen Institute in Berlin. "I think both sides need each other in different ways, they have different priorities and objectives." But others — including retired Marine General Anthony Zinni, head of the U.S. Central Command from 1997 to 2000 — see a political message behind the recall, announced one week before the 60th anniversary of the U.S. liberation of Paris. "I have this concern that some of this is to stick it in the eye of, quote, 'old Europe,'" Zinni told TIME.

Says Robert Deaderick, 87, a veteran who's attending the anniversary of the liberation, "The French and the Germans have treated the Americans right shabbily over Iraq these last few years. It serves them right that they'll have to fend for themselves more."

• CHARLES P. WALLACE
• America pulls more of its troops out of Europe