First of all, please keep this GQ. No debates on US-Euro relations in the past few years or US foreign policy as a whole, just the factual question whether there’s a considerable debate on this in America.
The Council of Europe currently is investigating, or plans to investigate, whether there were airplanes carrying people in custody of the CIA and other US secret agencies to facilities in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, where they were allegedly subjected to interrogation methods some describe as torture. The question is whether (1) those flights, allegedly done secretly and marked as ordinary business flights, did take place, and (2) whether they made stopovers on EU airports.
There’s currently a lot of frenzy in Europe on this. I’m wondering if this issue is debated in the American public or whether it’s rather absent.
I don’t know how this question can be answered factually without some IMO being used. I can say that, coming from a person who reads numerous news sources each day, has their own Board, and talks to and/or meets a large number of people from around the US each week, that it is a story that seems pretty much completely ignored except for the typical liberal anger blogs, and, of course, the SDMB. CNN (web) runs a piece on it every couple days that drops off the main page pretty quickly, and CNN-HN mentions it in passing between sports highlights. ABC News (TV) doesn’t give it more than casual mention.
That’s not to imply that it’s not a serious, nor important story, nor truthful story - or the opposite. Just saying. I don’t know how one quantifiably gauges the reaction to it. I could postulate why there appears to be little to no reaction, but that would be both not in keeping with the forum, and a novel of a length no one would want to read.
There have been a few below-the-fold stories in the US papers, but really, at best this is just part of the larger debate over this administration’s conduct of the war in Iraq and “The War On Terror”. The use of Europe as such is just not a central feature of it, not compared to the use of torture and the reasons for starting a war, and not when there’s no actual harm to Europeans, much less Americans. It’s certainly understandable that Europeans would be most upset over the aspects that involve Europe, of course.
I might be worth mentioning that the OP and the Council of Europe know about the secret facilities because of a “debate” within the U.S.
When the WaPo broke the story (reg required) it was quite clear that it was within the context of a debate within the CIA as to whether this whole system is sustainable and wise – one faction inside the CIA or at least highly placed need to know within the Intelligence World, said “No” and (here is the IMO part) I read between the lines that this is the faction that leaked to the Post and kicked over the anthill.
I think that’s it as well. To the average American who is against the use of secret jails, what land they flew over is inconsequential. It’d be like being upset over somebody running a stop sign on the way to beating up your mother.
The Los Angeles Times had a long story about European reaction to the news. That story indicated that the European populace is a lot more agitated than are the political leaders who have to deal with the US government. Even that news story hasn’t gotten much of a reaction here. I agree with the other answers that it is only a part of a larger debate on the whole Iraq war, so-called war on terror, etc.