Support for the general use of torture is marginal in most countries--falling into single digits among 12 of 19 countries polled:
The problem clearly is the support for torture in exceptional circumstances, which, of course, can easily be abused. Thus, the American problem is less one of sadistic disregard for basic human dignity, and more a matter of trusting authorities who are generally the least worthy of such trust.
As Glenn Greenwald noted on Friday:
This week, two more Guantanamo detainees -- Khaled Al-Mutairi from Kuwait and Mohamed Jawad of Afghanistan -- were ordered released by federal judges on the ground that there was insufficient evidence to justify their detention. The Washington Independent's Daphne Eviatar notes this amazing fact: "In 28 of 33 Gitmo detainee cases heard so far, federal judges have found insufficient evidence to support keeping them in prison." Virtually all of those detainees were held for many years without charges and with no opportunity for judicial review. Once they finally got into a court, federal judges (including Bush-43 appointed judges) in the vast majority of cases concluded there was virtually no credible evidence ever to justify their detention. Just consider what that fact, standing alone, means about what our Government has been doing.
Running amuck, that's what it's been doing. Which is why our Bill of Rights is so fundamentally important, and why we so desperately need to restore strict adherence to it.
Here's the exact question asked:
Q30-T1: Most countries have agreed to rules that prohibit torturing prisoners. Which position is closer to yours?
Terrorists pose such an extreme threat that governments should now be allowed to use some degree of torture if it may gain information that saves innocent lives
Clear rules against torture should be maintained because any use of torture is immoral and will weaken international human rights standards against
And for those who said torture should be allowed, this followup question was asked:
Q30a-T1a: What about cases that have nothing to do with terrorism? Do you think that there should be rules prohibiting torture in all other cases or that in general governments should be allowed to use torture to try to get information?
The report itself stated:
A WorldPublicOpinion.org poll of 19 nations finds that in 14 of them most people favor an unequivocal rule against torture, even in the case of terrorists who have information that could save innocent lives. Four nations lean toward favoring an exception in the case of terrorists.
However, large majorities in all 19 nations favor a general prohibition against torture. In all nations polled, the number saying that the government should generally be able to use torture is less than one in five.
On average across all nations polled, 57 percent opt for unequivocal rules against torture. Thirty-five percent favor an exception when innocent lives are at risk. Just 9 percent favor the government being able to use torture in general.
The four publics that favor an exception for terrorists when innocent lives are at risk include majorities in India (59%), Nigeria (54%), and Turkey (51%), and a plurality in Thailand (44%).
Support for the unequivocal position was highest in Spain (82%), Great Britain (82%) and France (82%), followed by Mexico (73%), China (66%), the Palestinian territories (66%), Poland (62%), Indonesia (61%), and the Ukraine (59%). In five countries either modest majorities or pluralities support a ban on all torture: Azerbaijan (54%), Egypt (54%), the United States (53%), Russia (49%), and Iran (43%). South Koreans are divided....
"The idea that torture by governments is basically wrong is widely shared in all corners of the world. Even the scenario one hears of terrorists holding information that could save innocent lives is rejected as a justification for torture in most countries," comments Steven Kull, director of WorldPublicOpinion.org.
"Further," Kull adds, "since such a scenario is exceedingly rare, this poll suggests that virtually all torture used by governments is at odds with the will of the people."
My bottom-line conclusion is that our biggest problem is the media, which feeds us ticking time-bomb fantasies on the one hand, and utterly fails to question government authority figures and present contrary information on the other. Once again, the American people are not the main culprits here. The corporate media is much more to blame. |
