In the aftermath of deadly terrorist attacks in Paris — and months after the start of U.S. airstrikes against ISIS — there has been little change in the public’s worries about an imminent terrorist attack in the United States. … In addition, the public gives high ratings to the U.S. […] Read more »
Getting it wrong on how Americans see torture
Various media reports of recent polling give the misleading impression that a majority of Americans approve of the harsh interrogation techniques used by the CIA after 9/11 and discussed in the recent Senate Intelligence Committee report. A key example is the December 16 article in The Washington Post with the […] Read more »
Only Elite Norms, Not Public Opinion, Can Stop America from Torturing Again
… But these findings together indicate public opinion is not a backstop preventing the United States from torturing. Instead, mass opinion on torture is malleable and conditional. Support for torture in the early 2000s indicates that, in times of perceived security threat, people are more supportive. Unfortunately, those are exactly […] Read more »
Americans Have Taken Ownership of the CIA’s Interrogation Program
Asked about the CIA’s post-9/11 interrogation program, former Vice President Dick Cheney replied, “I’d do it again in a minute.” Many opponents of the program regard him as the relic of a time in which the United States was caught up in a national security panic. They are wrong: even […] Read more »
Six in 10 See CIA Actions as Justified As Many Question Committee Report
Six in 10 Americans say the CIA’s treatment of suspected terrorists was justified, more than half think it produced important, unique intelligence – and 52 percent say it was wrong for the Senate Intelligence Committee to issue a report suggesting otherwise. Those results in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll […] Read more »
Majority of Americans Believe CIA’s Harsh Interrogation Tactics Were Acceptable
A majority of Americans believe the harsh interrogation practices the Central Intelligence Agency used after the 9/11 terrorist attacks were acceptable under the circumstances, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. CONT. Mark Murray, NBC News Read more »