Six in 10 See CIA Actions as Justified As Many Question Committee Report

[DonViejo]

Source: Washington Post

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 underscore the public’s sense of risk from the threat of terrorism, and specifically the extent to which majorities support controversial measures to combat it. Indeed just two in 10 flatly rule out torture in future cases.

-snip-

A plurality, 49 percent, believes the CIA did in fact torture suspected terrorists; 38 percent think its actions did not amount to torture, with the rest unsure. Regardless, the public by a broad 59-31 percent also says the agency’s interrogation actions were justified.

One reason is that 53 percent think these interrogations produced important information that could not have been obtained any other way. Just 31 percent reject this claim, a focus of the recent debate.

more


Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2014/12/six-in-10-see-cia-actions-as-justified-as-most-question-committee-report/

[Ed Suspicious]

1. Puke. American Nazis.

[ladjf]

2. It wouldn't matter to me if 99.99999% of Americans approved of the CIA torture. What they were

doing is very wrong. I would have be surprised had the vote on torture had turned out otherwise. American people have been
made sick by a steady diet of professionally created propaganda.

[underpants]

4. The propaganda machine is strong

We live on a bubble

[KingCharlemagne]

16. I'll bet you dollars to donuts that. at least until mid-1944, a majority of Germans supported

Hitler and the Nazis. I suppose it's a somewhat healthy sign that so many -- even if not a majority -- know that it was torture, that the torture was wrong and that it did not work. But I readily take your point that the body politic at large is 'sick.'

[ladjf]

28. I agree with you calculation. They seemed to have supported Hitler until

shortly before the end. (Although, there were some assassination attempts made.)

[blkmusclmachine]

3. And I know of 0 in 10 who approve of torture...

Who/where did they conduct their "poll"??? And why should I believe it???

[AZ Progressive]

13. Most of America is not the Northeast and the West Coast

Americans in between both are more conservative.

[cheapdate]

33. True that. Here in the deep red state of Tennessee, support for agressive U.S. policies,

including torture and the like, is very high.

[Recursion]

39. Pauline Kael? Is that you? (nt)

[slumcamper]

5. Brains, heart, courage--60% have lost one or the other (and some, all).

I wonder if releasing the photos or the full report will tip the balance toward justice? I really wonder....

[City Lights]

6. We live in a sick society. nt

[KansDem]

7. ABC News/Washington Post poll?

Yeah, okay...

[albino65]

24. May I complete the statement?

Really?

[Bragi]

8. Not a huge surprise

A majority of people in a public information and discourse universe as corrupted and distorted as that of America cannot be expected to make rational decisions, let alone good ones.

Even if you explained it to them, I doubt a majority of Americans today would support most of the Bill of Rights.

I think this is why American democracy is broken, probably irrevocably.

Democracy is based on the noble idea of informed citizens making rational choices. That isn't even theoretically possible in today's America, or Canada, or the UK, or anywhere in the west, where information channels are thoroughly corrupted and owned by the corporate 1 per cent.

[pitchforx]

9. As our No.1 Founding Father said:

“Should any American soldier be so base and infamous as to injure any (prisoner). . . I do most earnestly enjoin you to bring him to such severe and exemplary punishment as the enormity of the crime may require. Should it extend to death itself, it will not be disproportional to its guilt at such a time and in such a cause… for by such conduct they bring shame, disgrace and ruin to themselves and their country.” - George Washington, charge to the Northern Expeditionary Force, Sept. 14, 1775

[GliderGuider]

10. O, wonder!

O, wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,
That has such people in't!

[90-percent]

11. Nice job, MSM

Your agenda driven corporate propaganda is serving your Oligarch Masters well. Much more of their wealth will trickle down to you than us average corporate serfs. And I'm comforted to appreciate you all have absolutely no remorse what so ever for finally destroying our great American experiment in self government and Democracy.

The majority of Americans think torture works and the info from torture prevented further terrorist attacks? Well, then, WE ARE ALL DICK CHENEY NOW!

And apparently the years of our own government overplaying the fear card on all of us for over a decade is producing the results the Oligarch's were striving for.

Americans need their fairy tales. Leave "facts", "logic", "reason", "knowledge" and "actual journalism" for those climate change believing losers still desperately clinging to what's left of their reality based worlds.

After all, the Oligarch's are inherently superior to us average folks, because the solitary measure of a person's worthiness is based solely on their accumulated wealth. So they know what's best for us and they wouldn't scare the crap out of us for over a decade straight if it wasn't in our best interests.

At long last, it appears like Dick Cheney and his coven are winning!


-90% Jimmy

[George II]

12. Unfortunately this is flawed in two ways:

First, the questions were buried in a morass of unrelated questions (questions 8 through 15 of a 31 question survey) What were the other questions, and did they steer these answers somehow?

Second, the opinions of Americans is based on what they read and hear - and most of what they've heard over the last 13 years has been lies from the likes of bush, Cheney, Wolfowitz, etc.

Unfortunately, until the 600 page SUMMARY was issued last week, the American public knew little if anything about what happened in those dark sites. In fact, the bush administration denied their very existence for years and also denied the rumors of what went on in them.

As for the question about whether or not the report (a misnomer since it was only a summary of the complete report, which HASN'T been released and may never be), it is a subjective question expressing opinions in the way it is worded, basically answering the question within the question:

12. Which of these statements comes closer to your own opinion: (It was wrong to release this report because it may raise the risk of terrorism by increasing anti-American sentiment) OR (It was right to release this report in order to expose what happened and prevent it in the future).

"wrong to release this report BECAUSE" or "right to release this report in order to expose what happened" - essentially providing pre-determined answers. Why don't they just ask if respondents think it was right or wrong to release the report and leave it at that?

This is why I don't put much credence in these so-called "surveys" or "polls".

[SpankMe]

32. You're absolutely correct.

When I was in college and took a course in statistics, we had a segment on polling and how to correctly/accurately gauge the opinions of a large population of people from a small sample size.

One of the big no-no's in crafting the questions was the use of compound statements. Such things can confuse the polling subject and muddle the actual question being asked.

First part: It was right to release this report... Second part: Because it exposes what happened and prevent...

The problem with this type of compound statement is that the subject being polled is confined to answering to a premise that they may or may not agree with or completely understand. So, they pick the best response that they think we'll answer the question, even if it's "off" by a bit. That "off" totally destroys the accuracy of the poll results.

It was right to release this report... because that's part of the oversight role of Congress.

It was right to release this report...because releasing the whole, un-redacted report would compromise sources and methods.

It was right to release this report...because it exposes what happened and demonstrates that we need to do more of it in the future.

If there are multiple plausible answers to the question, and the pollster proposes an answer that the subject never considered, then the subject may be have a divided opinion on the second part. So they select the best one.

Polls can be scientific and accurate. But, the questions have to be well crafted, and should not propose answers except in very specific cases.

[George II]

34. Some of these poll questions remind me of one of my father's favorite "questions":

"Have you stopped beating your wife?"

This is a favorite ploy of republican Congressmen in their kangaroo court "hearings", especially those conducted by Issa. He asks a total off-base yes/no question, defining the "answer" in his question, and when the witness tried to EXPLAIN his opinion before saying "yes" or "no", Issa interrupted and kept saying "answer the question!" If the witness didn't say yes or no, he was berated for dodging the question or being non-responsive.

[sinkingfeeling]

14. Again, this makes me ashamed to be an American.

[slumcamper]

15. X2!

[jakeXT]

17. Reminds me of the love fest with the Heritage Foundation, Chertoff, Limbaugh and the '24' creators

He was probably right, considering that the panel discussion after Chertoff's remarks included two national security scholars, "24" co-creators Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran, and the actors who play the show's Nixonish president (Gregory Itzin) and CTU agents Tony Almeida (Carlos Bernard) and Chloe O'Brian (Mary Lynn Rajskub).

The discussion was hosted by Rush Limbaugh, who breached the art-vs.-life divide early by planting a big kiss on the woman he introduced to a knowing audience simply as "Chloe."

All this, plus special guest Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who sat in the front row of the packed amphitheater.

Among other things, Limbaugh asked the show's creators and stars whether they're snubbed by "Hollywood liberals" for making a "pro-America show." The consensus response: Well, no, and they wouldn't put it like that. As Surnow pointed out, the show is embraced by people of all political persuasions, with a fan base that ranges from Barbra Streisand to Donald Rumsfeld.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/23/AR2006062301804.html

[zeemike]

18. This tells me two things.

first is that the polls may be skewed so the MSM can rehabilitate the Bush Brand for Jeb.
And the second is that if the poll is correct, and I am not sure of that, then the propaganda like the TV show 24 has worked to turn us into the facist we defeated in WW2...the second one is more troubling than the first.

[FairWinds]

19. Hey Mr. George -

good points on that poll. It is flawed.
Please folks, don't trust the Washington Post
(and don't shop with it's owner's company, Amazon. His
business model is a tax dodge, and he treats his
employees like crap.)

[jalan48]

20. Iraq War -Shock and Awe

These numbers don't surprise me. I remember when the Iraq War started in 2003 and the streets were filled with flag waving crazies. Shock and Awe was must watch TV at night, especially in the bars and taverns where beer drinking Americans cheered on the destruction. I quit listening to NPR then because of the pro-war propaganda being decimated by the supposedly "liberal" media outlet. Phil Donahue was fired for simply questioning the sanity of going to war. This is the United States today.

[lark]

21. Grains of salt?

It's hard to know how to take this poll without seeing the actual questions. If the questions weren't leading, I am so disheartened and ashamed of my country and it's inhabitants, at least a great %age of them. Are there that many Americans that only watch Faux Snooze, that never read or pay attention to any other media, and that are that gullible and afriad? I know the BFEE reign was all about creating terror in Americans and Obama hasn't changed the narrative and hasn't tried. But, still, really? It just amazes me how scared so many Americans are of something that will most likely never touch their lives again.

The oligarchy did plan this, and I think it was a worldwide effort which succeeded in getting them even more riches and making the rest much more poor and pliable to their plans. A dumb serf/slave is more tractable than an informed one.

Ever since the absoluely traitorous SCOTUS installed the unelected shrub, our constitution and way of government has been shredded. Now, with the horrific bill signed last week (with soo many so-called Democrats voting for it), the 1% has regained a way to crash the system, take all the money from the taxpayers, and empoverish us even more thoroughly than they did in 2008.

"I got to get outta this place, if it's the last thing I ever do. Boy (girl) there's a better life for me and you!" Eric Burden and the Animals.

[PoliticAverse]

22. And I'm sure most of those '6 out of 10' don't really know what the CIA did. n/t

[Richard D]

23. At the risk of violating Godwin's Law . . .

. . . what was the percentage of German's who agreed with Hitler.

[Thespian2]

25. Simple answer to Americans

who do not believe the torture report. Put the ruthless, blood-thirsty, lunatics of the Cheney administration on trial and let's see what the real evidence proves. Oh, I forgot. Put the puppet ass-hole W. Bush on trial as well.

[heaven05]

26. the 6 in ten

believe everything fox snooze tells them. Proof? Just look back to yesteryear, Nov 4, 2014. Election day... WaPo? Snooze news again....all BS

[blackspade]

27. Then the people they are polling are....

Either fucking stupid or grossly misinformed. Or both.

[stupidicus]

29. and the primary reason such ignorance prevails?

because of the lapdog press reporting....

[RoccoR5955]

30. Any well crafted poll

is designed to get the answer that you want, not the actual opinion of anyone.
Plain and simple.

[og1]

31. Did the german people think the killing of Jews was justified

Absolutely they did! They were prepared for this for over ten years before they started the mass elimination of Jewish people. All nations need an enemy. America has chosen Muslims and people of color. The more were involved in the Middle East the more Americans tend to blame Muslims for their problems or fears! So no American should be shocked to learn such a large percentage of Americans approve of torture to Muslims after all we have been torturing black Americans since the late 1600's. Now if the CIA was torturing Calvinists that would be a totally different story!

[Enrique]

35. how bad could it be if no one is being punished for it? n/t

[Octafish]

36. If they did, they might have to go after the traitors who ordered them to torture.

Automatic. Firewall. National Security. Defend the Casino.

[humbled_opinion]

37. Sure they approve and they approve of

Obama's drone program too. A hellfire missile shot at a building multiple people some innocent as well as guilty pinned under collapsed rubble for hours as they slowly bleed out in intense agony... nope no torture there either... Maybe they think the "people over there" don't feel pain like the "people over here" do.....

[ozone_man]

38. Five in 10 voted for Bush.

The other 10% are apparently confused by the CIA and media. Seems about right for this country.

[Recursion]

40. People are surprised by this? (nt)

[truthisfreedom]

41. Bull. Fucking. Shit.

I call it bullshit.