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Americans Believe Soldiers Tortured Detainees
(Angus Reid Global Scan) - Many adults in the United States think troops may have inflicted pain as a means of coercion during the military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a poll by Harris Interactive. 66 per cent of respondents believe that prisoners captured in either country have been tortured by Americans.
Last year, a series of pictures depicting the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. soldiers appeared in several information sources. A classified U.S. Army report states that some soldiers committed "numerous incidents of criminal abuses" and "grave breaches of international law" at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad. U.S. president George W. Bush and defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld publicly apologized for the incidents.
In January, Charles Graner—one of the soldiers allegedly involved in the prisoner abuse scandal—was found guilty of aggravated assault, maltreatment of subordinates, dereliction of duty, indecent acts and conspiracy in a military trial. The 36-year-old Graner was later sentenced to 10 years in a military prison.
Polling Data
Do you believe that any prisoners captured in Iraq and Afghanistan have been tortured by Americans?
Yes | 66% |
No | 32% |
Not sure / Refused | 2% |
Source: Harris Interactive
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,010 American adults, conducted from Apr. 5 to Apr. 10, 2005. Margin of error is 3 per cent.