Rumsfeld: U.S. emphasis on Asia will not come at the expense of Europe

Donald Rumsfeld

From Jamie McIntyre
CNN Military Affairs Correspondent

ANKARA, Turkey (CNN) - U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld arrived in Turkey on Sunday, pledging that the United States would not shift its emphasis to Asia at the expense of Europe.

"Yes, Asia is growing and is an important part of the world," Rumsfeld told reporters traveling on his plane with him to Europe, but "any suggestion that the United States is going to, or ought to, or might turn away from Europe is fundamentally flawed in logic."

Rumsfeld said while the United States is reviewing its military force structure in Europe, there are no plans to reduce the number of U.S. troops stationed there below 100,000.

"There's been no discussions about any troop adjustment in Europe. And it would be wrong to inject that into the discussion, and cause tremors unnecessarily and inaccurately," Rumsfeld said.

Rumsfeld said the United States is looking at "rearranging" how U.S. troops are deployed, not reducing the overall number.

Rumsfeld called the U.S. commitment to NATO, "central, important and indispensable."

Rumsfeld meets Monday with Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit and other top Turkish officials before flying to the Incirlik Air Base, where U.S. troops enforcing the northern no-fly zone over Iraq are based.

Rumsfeld said the Pentagon is reviewing how the U.S. and British-imposed no-fly zones are enforced, but insisted any change would come as a result of refining the overall U.S. strategy toward Iraq.

"We don't have any proposals to alter that at the present time," Rumsfeld said, referring to the current no-fly zone patrols. "That is a piece of the total picture and it will be addressed in its totality, as it is being done through the National Security Council process."

Rumsfeld said he has had extensive discussions in recent days with the two U.S. generals in charge of the no-fly zones over northern and southern Iraq, and has passed their input the National Security Council.

Pentagon sources said Air Force Gen. Joe Ralston, who is responsible for the northern zone, has expressed the opinion that the United States should curtail or eliminate allied patrols in the north because of the increasing risk to pilots.

The United States has been enforcing northern and southern no-fly zones in Iraq since the end of the Gulf War in 1991.

Iraq, which considers the zones violations of its territorial sovereignty, has been actively challenging the patrols since December 1998 and has been firing more at U.S. and British planes in the last few months.