America’s GIs are waving goodbye. Good Europeans should cheer them on their way. More than two decades have passed since the end of the cold war. You do not have to be French (or Russian) to agree it’s time for the Yanks to go home.
The US still has about 80,000 troops in Europe, organised around four combat brigades. One of the brigades is now being withdrawn by Barack Obama’s administration. Another may soon follow. The decision comes hard on the heels of an edict consigning US warplanes to a back-seat role in Libya.
Diplomatic gossip has it that the president could also cancel plans for state-of-the-art missile defences in Europe. The Europeans would like a Nato missile shield to guard against rogue regimes such as that in Tehran. The trouble is they don’t want to pay their share.