Hegseth tells Europe to invest in defence; Restores Confederate general's name to US army base

Hegseth tells Europe to invest in defence; Restores Confederate general's name to US army base
by AFP Staff Writers
Berlin (AFP) Feb 11, 2025
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday that Europe needed to urgently boost military spending, on his first trip to the region since becoming Pentagon chief.

"The European continent deserves to be free from any aggression, but it ought be those in the neighbourhood investing the most" in its defence, he said at a US base in Germany.

On the first stop of a Europe trip, the senior member of US President Donald Trump's administration said he planned to have "straight talk with our friends".

He is also set to meet NATO defence ministers, attend a gathering of Ukraine's international supporters in Belgium, and make a visit to Poland for talks with its leaders.

The "urgency of this moment requires friends talking to friends about capabilities, about leadership, about stepping up, about burden sharing," he said during a live-streamed press conference at a US military facility in the southwestern city of Stuttgart.

He repeated Trump's demand for NATO countries to ramp up defence spending to five percent of GDP, more than double the current target, saying it was a "reflection of a need to invest on the continent".

Few in Europe however see this figure as feasible.

Hegseth also reiterated that Trump had promised to deliver "a rapid peace deal in Ukraine", a stance that has provoked fears Kyiv could be forced into making a one-sided deal with Russia.

When asked whether the US would be willing to send its armed forces to Ukraine, he responded: "We're not sending US troops to Ukraine."

He added that Washington planned to review "force posture across the world", and repeatedly singled out China as a major threat to the United States.

Beijing's "intentions are pernicious" and Washington will have to focus "properly on the Communist Chinese and their ambitions in the Indo-Pacific", he said.

But he also insisted that "We don't want conflict with China".

Largest US military base regains Confederate general name
Washington (AFP) Feb 11, 2025 - US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday changed the name of the country's largest military base back to Fort Bragg, undoing a change that dropped the moniker of a pro-slavery Confederate general.

"Bragg is back!" Hegseth posted on social media site X after signing the order.

"I direct the army to change the name of Fort Liberty North Carolina to Fort Bragg North Carolina," he said in a video.

A statement from the defense department said the base had been named after Pfc. Roland L. Bragg, "a World War II hero... for his exceptional courage during the Battle of the Bulge."

The decision scrapped a move by President Donald Trump's predecessor, Joe Biden, to rename the base -- one of a series of US military installations that removed the names of figures who supported the South in the 1861-1865 US Civil War.

Fort Bragg had been named in 1918 for Braxton Bragg, an inept Confederate general who was relieved of command after his defeat in the 1863 Battle of Chattanooga.

The Trump administration has taken aim at other name changes implemented under Democratic presidents, including reverting the name of Denali, America's highest peak, to its former moniker Mt. McKinley.

In 2015, then-president Barack Obama officially recognized the Alaska mountain as Denali, the name used by Alaska Natives for centuries.