Nearly half of all Americans think torturing terror suspects to gain information can be justified, according to a new survey, reports the Washington Times.
The survey, by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press by, of 2,006 persons found that 46 percent thought torturing terrorists to gain important information was sometimes (31 percent) or often (15 percent) justified; 17 percent thought it was rarely justified; and 32 percent were opposed. By contrast, the study found that of 520 opinion leaders questioned on the issue, no more than one in four thinks that torture of terrorist suspects can be sometimes or often justified, Agence France-Presse reports.
The survey also found that opinion leaders differ on who should be held responsible for prisoner abuse in Iraq and at the detention center at U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The survey noted that more than 50 percent of academics, journalists, foreign affairs analysts and scientists think such abuses are the result of official policy, against 60 percent of military and religious leaders who see it as mostly misconduct by soldiers and contractors.
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