Rumsfeld, Myers to Testify on Closings

[sabra]

<<SNIP>>
http://www.columbiabasinherald.com/articles/2005/05/13/ap/headlines/d8a4b15g1.txt

Rumsfeld, Myers to Testify on Closings

WASHINGTON - Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are scheduled to testify Monday before a congressionally chartered commission that will review the Pentagon's list of proposed base closings.

After reviewing the recommendations, the commission will send the plan to President Bush this fall.

Rumsfeld has proposed closing 33 major military installations in the United States and reorganizing hundreds of others as part of a widespread restructuring of the U.S. military. Tens of thousands of troops in Europe and East Asia are expected to come home.

The plan has sparked efforts in communities across the country to save the bases and the thousands of civilian jobs that come with them. The proposed closings also have brought criticism from politicians and other officials.

Retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark said Saturday that the Pentagon's plan will isolate the military from the American people and the rest of the world. Clark also said the plan to pull U.S. forces back home from abroad and centralize bases takes jobs away from smaller towns.

"We're losing influence abroad when we bring those troops home, and we lose the interaction with America when we create these super bases," Clark said in a speech to the Arkansas Associated Press Managing Editors Association.

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[Auntie Bush]

1. I agree wit h General Clark! I wish he could be on the commission!

[seemslikeadream]

2. Watch on C-SPAN 3

BASE CLOSURES
Rumsfeld & Myers Testify
Sec. of Defense Donald Rumsfeld & Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Richard Myers testify at the first BRAC hearing following the publication of the Pentagon's list of recommendations for base closures. A second panel testifies on the methodolgy for writing the report.

1:30pmet

http://www.cspan.org/