Torture Can Be Useful, Nearly Half of Americans in Poll Say.

[elleng]

(After all, it works so well on their children. )

UNITED NATIONS — Nearly half of Americans in a global survey said they believed an enemy fighter could be tortured to extract information, according to results released Monday. That finding puts respondents in the United States in contrast with citizens of many countries and at odds with international law, which prohibits torture under any circumstances.

The results were part of a poll carried out by the International Committee of the Red Cross, which surveyed 17,000 people in 16 countries, including many nations in conflict or recovering from conflict, to gauge public opinion about the laws of war.

The findings on torture were among the starkest. Among Americans, 46 percent said torture could be used to obtain information from an enemy combatant, while 30 percent disagreed and the rest said they did not know. On a more general question, one in three said torture was “part of war,” just over half called it “wrong,” and the rest said they did not know or preferred not to answer.'>>>

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/05/world/americas/torture-can-be-useful-nearly-half-of-americans-in-poll-say.html?

[taught_me_patience]

1. Absolutely shameful

Any type of torture is a disgrace to our nation.

[elleng]

2. and a WAR CRIME!

'Torture is a war crime, according to international law. The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said recently that she had reasonable grounds to open an investigation into allegations of torture by American forces in Afghanistan.

On the campaign trail, Donald J. Trump endorsed waterboarding, claiming that “it works.” He has suggested a shift in thinking since his election, saying that his nominee for defense secretary, Gen. James N. Mattis, believes there are more effective tactics for extracting important information from detainees.'

[yeoman6987]

6. They can investigate all day long

But we are not under the ICC or get ruling from Hague. I thought president obama would have got us under it but didn't.

[Lurks Often]

10. It almost certainly would have had to go through the Senate

to get ratified as a treaty and getting the 2/3rds needed was probably never going to happen.

[Kingofalldems]

12. Reads like you agree with Trump.

What does Obama have to do with it?

[Orsino]

3. They've seen it on TV.

And they've seen Trump on TV.

[lunasun]

14. That's is it in a nutshell. Of course on TV I am guessing they are not watching American military

tortured for drama and suspense

[underpants]

4. 24

and the completely missing the point of Zero Dark Thirty.

This is just sad.

[CentralMass]

5. That is a sad commentary on where we are at.

[Solly Mack]

7. Then those people surveyed who thought torture useful are the foulest of humans

who are beneath contempt and should be ostracized.

And, to put it plainly - they are a malady of intestinal necrosis in dire need of being removed from the body human.

[Dem2]

8. Every cop or war show or movie shows people "breaking" in less than 10 minutes usually

What the heck else would morons in our ignoramus country think?

[Donald Ian Rankin]

9. What was the question asked?

If asked the question "can torture be useful?" I would unhesitatingly answer "yes", because it can.

That doesn't mean that I think it's ethical or legal, or that I think the US should engage in it.

[Iggo]

11. They saw it on TV.

[pansypoo53219]

13. ETERTAINMENT brainwashing. it works in writer's misbelief.

[lonestarnot]

15. More NAZI swarm.

[Recursion]

16. The US never used torture to extract information

That's what's so appalling. And people are just fundamentally mistaken about how and why torture was used. Any time somebody was being waterboarded, the interrogator was asking questions the US already knew the answers to. Torture is used for compliance, not information.

[Calculating]

17. Nasty

Torture simply degrades the humanity of the torturer and tends to provide faulty information, or info that you already knew. My opinion has always been that if you hate someone enough to torture them, you should just sentence them to death and do it quickly.