US military out of Germany?

According to two stories in the NYTimes on Sunday (here and here) and William Safire's column from today, the US is considering withdrawing its troops from bases in Germany and redeploying them to other European countries. While this plan has been under consideration in various forms for some time -- and is most definitely not a result of the recent tension between the US and Germany -- it will no doubt add some fuel to the fire of that tension.

I do wonder about one thing, though: why would Germany be that concerned about such a possibility? What does that country stand to lose if we deployed our troops in other European countries? Would there be much of an economic hit? Diplomatic? Perhaps either, or both, but I wonder if it would be that sever in either case.

Anyone have any thoughts?