Re:France summons U.S. ambassador over spying report
by pgeorgi on Monday October 21, 2013 @10:49AM
(#6585898)
It also happened on German soil (Ramstein Air Base is said to be involved) and to at least one German citizen (but not with Germany as a starting point: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khalid_El-Masri) - even if the German government wasn't actively involved, at least it wasn't able or willing to prevent that from happening here.
Preventing the issue on formal grounds was probably the easiest way to avoid having to protect someone in Germany from the USA - which is obviously futile.
To which several European governments, mostly the UK, but also Italy, happily cooperated. The other ones have been lucky enough not to be caught red-handed but I have little doubt that they knew perfectly what was going on (at best) or were actively providing support.