Following the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on CIA interrogation practices in the period following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, 51% of the public says they think the CIA methods were justified, compared with just 29% who say they were not justified; 20% do not express an opinion. CONT. Pew Read more »
Most Americans consider waterboarding to be torture
In the wake of last week’s release of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on the CIA’s detention and interrogation program, 69 percent of Americans consider waterboarding to be torture, but 49 percent think aggressive interrogation tactics like waterboarding are sometimes justified. 36 percent think they are not justified. CONT. CBS […] Read more »
Dramatic depictions of torture increase support for it
… Pop culture depictions generally show torture to be effective at eliciting actionable intelligence, often in a ticking time bomb scenario that fails to reflect reality. Similarly, public opinion polls ask about support for torture under the presumption that it works. What impact does framing torture as effective have on […] Read more »
What Is Torture? Our Beliefs Depend In Part On Who’s Doing It.
… This week’s Senate report on U.S. interrogations is the latest stage in a decade-long debate. Americans have talked about torture in different ways, including debating whether to call it torture at all. The Bush administration avoided that language after 9/11 partly because the United States had signed on to […] Read more »