The Army broke a 2000 promise and manufactured the split-basing problem in 2006

Evidence

Several sources, including State Department cables released by Wikileaks, show that the Army first asked the Italian government about building at Dal Molin in 2002 or 2003, if not before. (This broke a promise made to Italian officials in 2000 to respect established troop limits in Vicenza and “build up and not out.”) In April 2005, the Italian government gave permission to build at Dal Molin. And it was only in 2006, around the time that the Pentagon sent Congress its first Dal Molin funding request, that the Army expanded the 173rd by adding four separate battalions in Germany to the two in Vicenza, thus creating the split-basing problem for the first time. — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 770

Categorization

Category: Factual Claims

• XREF: The ‘build up and not out’ promise-breaking connects to the broader chapter pattern of the Pentagon working around its own public commitments.

Related

• The Army created the split-basing problem it used to justify a new base. (similarity 0.91)
• The split-basing problem justifying Vicenza expansion was self-inflicted (similarity 0.81)
• The Army abandoned its stated consolidation purpose after spending most of the build funds. (similarity 0.80)