One day after visiting Iraq, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld toured a spruced-up military base in Constanta, Romania Monday and heard a Romanian government sales pitch for making it a new American outpost within easy reach of potential hot spots in the Middle East and Central Asia.

No deal was struck, and Rumsfeld's aides discouraged reporters traveling with him from thinking he was scouting for new bases. But the facilities in Constanta clearly are among bases the Pentagon is considering for occasional training and air access, though not permanent troop basing.

Asked after one of several briefings for Rumsfeld and other Pentagon officials where he thought the United States will agree to make Mihail Kogalniceanu one of its rotational bases, Romania Defense Minister Vlado Buckovski told an American reporter, "Of course I hope so, you know. But it's not in our hands."

Rumsfeld did not make any public comment. An official traveling with him who discussed the matter on condition of anonymity told reporters that the Romanians are eager to make a deal for the base, which is a combination of an air base, an adjacent army station and nearby training ranges.

"They wrote the menu. We have to figure out what we want to pick, if anything," the official said, adding that he expected a final decision to be made sometime in 2005. He said it was likely that a U.S. government assessment team would visit Romania this fall to check more details.

The air base is used by Romanian reserves, and the mechanized infantry brigade that uses the adjacent army post is about to abandon it, the official said, leaving plenty of room for the Americans.

As many as 3,500 U.S. troops were stationed here in February and March 2003 to prepare for the start of the war in Iraq. U.S. Army paratroopers based in Italy used Constanta as a staging base for their airlift into northern Iraq in the opening days of the war. It also was used as an air transport hub by the Air Force during the Afghanistan war. No U.S. troops are based here now.

Later Rumsfeld flew to Bucharest, the Romanian capital, for meetings with senior government leaders on Tuesday. He is scheduled to attend NATO meetings Wednesday and Thursday at a resort in central Romania.

Source: Agencies