Sizeable minority of Americans condone torture

By Patrick Worsnip

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The number of Americans who would condone torture, at least when used on terrorists in order to save lives, has risen over the past two years and now stands at over 40 percent, according to a new opinion poll.

The poll released by WorldPublicOpinion.org, a project managed by the University of Maryland, found that a narrow majority of Americans -- 53 percent -- think all torture should be banned.

But 31 percent would accept it in terrorism cases to save innocent lives and a further 13 percent said it should be allowed in other circumstances as well, the nationwide poll of 1,309 people found. The remaining 3 percent did not know or did not answer. The margin of error was 3.3 percent.

WorldPublicOpinion said a 2006 poll found that 36 percent of Americans would accept torture in terrorism or other cases, compared with 44 percent now.

The latest poll was part of an international survey of public attitudes to torture, which found that 57 percent of respondents in 19 countries opposed it under all circumstances. But in India, Nigeria, Turkey and South Korea, a majority agreed with torture at least in some cases.

The findings were issued at the United Nations ahead of International Victims of Torture Day on Thursday.

The issue is controversial in the United States because of reports of tough questioning of terrorism suspects at U.S. detention centers in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

President George W. Bush has said the United States does not practice torture. But the Central Intelligence Agency has admitted using "waterboarding", a form of simulated drowning, and a recent Justice Department probe cited cases of sleep disruption, "short shackling" and other physical techniques.