Torture OK with the USA

Nearly half of Americans—46 percent—believe torturing enemy combatants is acceptable, according to a poll conducted by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and published on Monday (Dec. 5). Another 24 percent said they were unsure about or unwilling to express their views on torture, and 30 percent said they opposed the practice (comparatively, 36 percent of international respondents said torture is acceptable, vs. 48 percent who said it is wrong). When the same questions were last asked in 1999, 32 percent of Americans said captured enemy fighters could be subjected to torture. The question was part of the ICRC’s “People on War” survey, which polled 17,000 people in 16 countries. The only nations with a higher percentage of respondents who supported torture were Nigeria (70 percent) and Israel (50 percent).