Pentagon stirs tensions in foreign base shuffle

The goal, analysts say, is to cement as many agreements as possible across the world, so that if one country changes course and denies the United States access, the Pentagon will have other options near at hand. But the new course will call on Pentagon leaders to be statesmen as well as military strategists.

"There are more than enough countries that would like to work with us, but a lot depends on how heavy-handed we are," says Mr. Work. "We have to approach it in a clever way rather than bullying them."

The shift is part of the Pentagon's Global Posture Review, which looks at overseas bases in much the same way that the Base Realignment and Closure process is now looking at domestic bases. And as is the case here, the Pentagon contends that its current network of overseas bases is a relic of the cold war.

During the cold war, "we had forward garrison forces configured to fight near and where they were based," said Ryan Henry, the Pentagon's principal deputy undersecretary for policy, in congressional testimony. "Today we no longer can predict where, when, or in what manner our forces may be called on to fight."

That means developing a wider array of alliances and bases. But not of the cold war variety - so-called "Little Americas" that hold thousands of troops and their families for years at a time. Manas air base in Kyrgyzstan, for example, is little more than a runway.

Bases like Manas cost the United States relatively little,yet access to them means the United States can send troops and equipment to the far corners of the world at a moment's notice - either from the old cold war bases, which will be consolidated, or from the safety of America itself.The Pentagon expects that its review will bring 50,000 troops home.

"It's a reshuffling of the deck," says Charles Peña, a defense analyst at the Cato Institute. Already, the American military hasexpanded its presence to unfamiliar areas, from Senegal to Singapore. Yet that is taking American forces into more volatile areas. There, they can help stabilize unsettled regions through their presence and training.But in these regions allegiances to America can easily ebb and flow - as happened in 2003 when Turkey denied US forces access to Iraq.

Moreover, the United States risks further unsettling the international scene if it affiliateswith unpopular or repressive regimes. Osama bin Laden cited US bases in Saudi Arabia as evidence of American imperialism - and a rationale for the Sept. 11 attacks. Then, when the United States wanted to use the Saudi bases for its war in Iraq, the country refused.

Says Mr. Peña: "You have to ask yourself if it was worth it."

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