WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States plans to withdraw about 70,000 troops from Europe and Asia in a major realignment of American military presence prompted by the end of the Cold War and the beginning of the war on terrorism, U.S. officials said on Saturday.

President George W. Bush will unveil the move to make the high-tech military much more mobile in a speech on Monday to the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Cincinnati, Ohio, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"The president is going to make an announcement about a major initiative to reduce the burden on our forces overseas," said one of the U.S. officials.

They confirmed a report in the Financial Times of a total shift of at least 70,000 troops from overseas to home bases. The British newspaper, citing people briefed on the plan, said two-thirds of the reductions would be made in Europe, mostly in Germany.

"Germany is definitely a place where there will be a major rearrangement," one U.S. official told Reuters of plans to bring two big armored units back to the United States from there.

The Washington Post reported on Saturday that as many as 100,000 U.S. troops could eventually be returned to the United States as the realignment evolved in years ahead...