Quotes of the Day

Sitting at a rustic wooden table in the softly-lit Zum Paulaner restaurant, Franz Walter, a gray-haired regional court judge in Wiesbaden, twists a glass of beer in his hands and tries to remember the last time an American showed up. "It's been a while," he says with a frown. "It used to be different."

Heads nod around the room in solemn agreement. The group of six mostly middle-aged men find the conversation at their monthly German-American friendship gatherings a little one-sided without the Americans. But since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the number of U.S. troops here has steadily declined — from 30,000 at the height of the cold war to 12,000 today. The two American bases in this town of 280,000 people, 40km from Frankfurt, once accounted for more than 2,000 local jobs; now they account for barely 200. Things could get a lot lonelier for the men of Wiesbaden's Good Neighbors Association, a German-American Friendship club that was formed in 1956, as Washington considers moving more bases out of Germany and into the new NATO member countries of Eastern Europe.

The size of U.S. armed forces in Germany has declined sharply from the height of the cold war, when there were nearly 300,000 troops stationed in what was then West Germany. Today, there are around 73,600 troops, plus some 95,000 dependents, largely concentrated in the western states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Bavaria. U.S. forces provide jobs for around 15,000 Germans. U.S. officials insist the new approach is part of a larger rethink of post-cold war defense, not a punishment for Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's opposition to an American-led war in Iraq. "I don't think that we will build the same kind of base that we built in the 20th century — complete with housing, schools, hospitals — a mini-America in other countries," Marine Gen. James Jones, the commander of U.S. forces in Europe, told reporters in Stuttgart in March. Jones cites Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo as a new model: U.S. national guard units are deployed there on six-month rotations, without dependents, which makes them more flexible and less costly.

Locals are worried about the economic impact of an American withdrawal, yet a recent nationwide poll showed 49% of Germans would welcome a further reduction of U.S. troops. Just over one quarter said they would regret such a move, while 18% said they had no preference. But the impact of troop withdrawals would hit some German communities hard. The Ramstein and Spangdahlem air bases, the largest U.S. military communities outside the U.S., are home to 40,000 American soldiers and dependents. Some 6,000 Germans are employed there. A study by the University of Trier concluded that the bases contributed €1.4 bn to the local economy in 2001, supporting some 27,000 full time jobs in a region with few other ecomomic prospects. "If the U.S. troops were to leave on short notice, it would be a catastrophe," says Peter Grüssner, in charge of troop issues for Rhineland-Palatinate, the state in which the bases are located.

If U.S. troops do depart, many fear that German influence in world affairs will go with them. "After World War II, Germany had geopolitical significance," says Helmut Mueller, Wiesbaden's city treasurer. "But this strategic significance no longer exists." Hans Öfinger, a 47-year-old journalist and head of the Wiesbaden Citizens Against War group, would love to see the Yanks go home. "We're not anti-American," he says, "but it would be no loss for Wiesbaden if the troops are withdrawn. We are not in favor of having foreign troops stationed in Germany."

The American military base of the future is less likely to spawn the kind of relationship that led to the formation of the Wiesbaden Good Neighbors Association. And that could have more than just economic consequences. For many Europeans, U.S. military bases were their first exposure to American culture, from the rock 'n' roll music to sports like basketball and baseball. "I would really miss watching NBA games on Armed Forces Network Television if the military left," jokes Wiesbaden treasurer Mueller. "Every American soldier who was ever stationed here leaves with an impression of how we live our lives. And through the soldiers, we understand a little bit more about America."The presence of the U.S. troops in Europe for more than half a century has left an enduring mark on German society. It is visible in the world of sports and entertainment, business, culture and politics. But as America shifts its strategic priorities, "they aren't interested in us anymore," says Walter. If America turns its back on Germany, he fears the warm ties of the past could cool. "German-American friendship also needs the participation of the Americans to thrive," he says.

• WILLIAM BOSTON | Wiesbaden
• Germans learn to live without Uncle Sam's bases