The World - News from Jan. 23, 1987

Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger cautioned that any major withdrawal of U.S. troops from Western Europe could cause a backlash among the allies and weaken the defense of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. “Rather than prompting a surge in allied burden-sharing, major U.S. troop withdrawals from Europe likely would have the opposite effect,” he told the Denver Rotary Club. Some members of Congress have suggested that a withdrawal of some of the 350,000 U.S. troops in Western Europe might prompt the allies to spend more money on defense of the region.