The World - News from July 2, 1989

Prime Minister Steingrimur Hermannsson of Iceland wants the 3,200 U.S. troops based on his island nation to go home, the U.S. military newspaper Stars and Stripes reported. “I am looking forward to the time when the Americans can return to the States,” Stars and Stripes quoted Hermannsson as saying. “I certainly hope it can happen in the foreseeable future.” The military base at Keflavik, about 30 miles west of Reykjavik, has been the center of controversy for the past month, the paper said. Iceland officially protested a May 16 speech by the outgoing commander of the U.S. forces, Rear Adm. Eric A. McVadon, who “implied that Icelandic authorities were ungrateful to the U.S. troops,” the paper said.