Washington is in an uproar after self-styled “Secretary of War” Pete Hegseth canceled the deployment of a US Army armored brigade of 4,000 troops to Poland this week without explanation, two weeks after Trump ordered the withdrawal of 5,000 troops from Germany. Members of the House Armed Services Committee grilled Army leaders about the cancellation revealing only that they were as much in the dark about it as the U.S. Congress. The presumption is that the cancellation flowed from Trump’s anger at European allies for not being sufficiently supportive of the US adventure in Iran. Poland however has been portrayed as and has portrayed itself as a model ally.
“We don’t know what’s going on here, but I just tell you we’re not happy with what’s being talked about, particularly since there’s been no statutory consultation with us,” committee chairman Mike Rogers told Army Secretary Dan Driscoll and acting Army Chief of Staff Gen. Christopher LaNeve during a hearing, reported The Hill.
Under questioning from Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.) on Friday, Driscoll said the rotation had been canceled “just a couple days ago,” while LaNeve said the decision was made in the “last two weeks.” Neither man could give an answer as to why. “These are major decisions that appear to many of the members of this committee to be last-minute decisions,” Scott said.
Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb) said he knew the decision did not lie with Army leaders, but he derided it as “reprehensible” and “an embarrassment to our country … what we just did to Poland.”