WASHINGTON -- The German army is withdrawing troops that were sent to guard American military bases on German soil after the Sept. 11 attacks, and the U.S. military will hire private security guards to take their place, Army officials said Friday.
The Army is proposing spending $100 million on contract guards in an emergency measure submitted to Congress last week, budget documents show.
The Bundeswehr, or German army, deployed 800 soldiers after the attacks, and then sent another 2,600 in the run-up to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder opposed the war on Iraq, but pledged German troops would help to secure the dozens of U.S. military installations in Germany.
U.S. officials did not say why Germany was withdrawing its guards now.
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