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Guantanamo Hurt U.S. Image, Say Americans
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Many adults in the United States are concerned about the impact the Guantanamo Bay detention facility had in international relations, according to a poll by Angus Reid Strategies. 59 per cent of respondents believe the treatment of prisoners in Guantanamo boosted anti-American sentiment in the world.
In addition, 58 per cent of respondents think employing harsh interrogation techniques on terrorism suspects was necessary to spare the U.S. from another terrorist attack, and 51 per cent would launch an official investigation to review whether any laws were broken in the way terrorism suspects were treated under the Bush administration.
In May 2005, a 308-page report by Amnesty International criticized the U.S. government for its handling of prisoners in several detention centres, including one at Guantanamo Bay where about 400 "enemy combatants"—most of them from Afghanistan—were being held. In January 2009, U.S. president Barack Obama ordered the closure of the Guantanamo Bay detention facility by January 2010.
In November 2005, the Washington Post reported on the existence of secret U.S. prisons for purported terrorism suspects located in Eastern Europe. Then U.S. president George W. Bush declared, "Anything we do to (protect the American people), any activity we conduct, is within the law. We do not torture."
In September 2006, the U.S. Congress authorized the Military Commissions Act of 2006. The legislation prevents the United States from resorting to torture in order to get information from terrorist suspects, allows these suspects to be held indefinitely without being charged with a crime, and forbids them from challenging their confinement in U.S. courts.
The 1949 Geneva Convention defines prisoners of war as members of rival armed forces captured during a conflict. Since the start of the war on terrorism in October 2001, there have been contradictory arguments after captured members of al-Qaeda and the Taliban were defined as "unlawful combatants" who were not subject to the Geneva Convention.
In April, the federal government declassified four legal opinions—written from 2002 to 2005 by Bush administration lawyers—which approve the use of harsh interrogation methods against 28 terrorism suspects.
Earlier this month, former U.S. vice-president Dick Cheney said the use of "harsh interrogation techniques" during the Bush administration was "legal, essential, justified, successful, and the right thing to do."
U.S. president Barack Obama described Guantanamo as "a rallying cry for our enemies" that set back "the willingness of our allies to work with us in fighting an enemy that operates in scores of countries."
Polling Data
Do you agree or disagree with each of the following statements?
|
Agree |
Disagree |
Not sure |
|
|
The treatment of prisoners in Guantanamo boosted anti-American sentiment in the world |
59% |
23% |
18% |
|
Employing harsh interrogation techniques on terrorism suspects was necessary to spare the U.S. from another terrorist attack |
58% |
31% |
11% |
|
An official investigation should be launched to review whether any laws were broken in the way terrorism suspects were treated under the Bush administration |
51% |
40% |
8% |
Source: Angus Reid Strategies
Methodology: Online interviews with 1,000 American adults, conducted from May 22 and May 24, 2009. Margin of error is 3.1 per cent.
