WASHINGTON — A majority of Americans believes the harsh interrogation techniques used on terrorism suspects after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks were justified, even as about half the public says the treatment amounted to torture, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
By a 59 percent to 31 percent ratio, those interviewed support the CIA’s brutal methods, with the vast majority of supporters saying they produced valuable intelligence.
In general, 58 percent say the torture of suspected terrorists can be justified “often” or “sometimes.”
The new poll comes on the heels of a scathing Senate Intelligence Committee investigation into the CIA’s detention and interrogation program, which President Barack Obama ended in 2009. The report concluded that controversial interrogation techniques — including waterboarding detainees, placing them in stress positions and keeping them inside confinement boxes — were not an effective means of acquiring intelligence.
The report also found that more than two dozen detainees were held wrongly, that the program was managed poorly and that the CIA misled top U.S. officials about the effectiveness of the program.
Fifty-four percent of the public agrees with this sentiment, saying the CIA intentionally misled the White House, Congress and the American people about its activities.
The CIA and former intelligence officials strongly dispute that assertion.
Director John Brennan, while acknowledging the spy agency made mistakes, also disputed the Senate’s finding that detainees subjected to enhanced interrogation techniques didn’t provide useful intelligence information.
Fifty-three percent of Americans say the CIA’s harsh interrogation of suspected terrorists produced important information that could not have been obtained any other way, while 31 percent say it did not.
Daniel Muiter, 26, of Smithfield, N.C., a libertarian, said torturing people during war was appropriate if there was reasonable suspicion the individuals had important information that could aid the United States. But he described himself as “really torn” over the release of the report.
“I am all for government transparency, but I don’t want our enemies using this information against us,” he said.
The Post-ABC poll was conducted by telephone Dec. 11 to Dec. 14, among a random national sample of 1,000 adults. The poll had a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.
