Photo: Belgium attack, source: Hepoliticalinsider.com
By : Toni Ervianto
Nearly two-thirds of Americans believe torture can be justified to extract information from suspected terrorists, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll, a level of support similar to that seen in countries like Nigeria where militant attacks are common. The poll reflects a U.S. public on edge after the massacre of 14 people in San Bernardino in December and large-scale attacks in Europe in recent months, including a bombing claimed by the militant group Islamic State last week that killed at least 32 people in Belgium.
Donald Trump, the front-runner for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, has forcefully injected the issue of whether terrorism suspects should be tortured into the election campaign. Trump has said he would seek to roll back President Barack Obama’s ban on waterboarding – an interrogation technique that simulates drowning that human rights groups contend is illegal under the Geneva Conventions. Trump has also vowed to “bring back a hell of a lot worse” if elected. Trump’s stance has drawn broad criticism from human rights organizations, world bodies, and political rivals. But the poll findings suggest that many Americans are aligned with Trump on the issue, although the survey did not ask respondents to define what they consider torture.
“The public right now is coping with a host of negative emotions,” said Elizabeth Zechmeister, a Vanderbilt University professor who has studied the link between terrorist threats and public opinion. “Fear, anger, general anxiety: (Trump) gives a certain credibility to these feelings,” she said.
The March 22-28 online poll asked respondents if torture can be justified “against suspected terrorists to obtain information about terrorism.” About 25 percent said it is “often” justified while another 38 percent it is “sometimes” justified. Only 15 percent said torture should never be used.
Republicans were more accepting of torture to elicit information than Democrats: 82 percent of Republicans said torture is “often” or “sometimes” justified, compared with 53 percent of Democrats. About two-thirds of respondents also said they expected a terrorist attack on U.S. soil within the next six months.
Surveys by other polling agencies in recent years have shown U.S. support for the use of torture at around 50 percent. A 2014 survey by Amnesty International, for example, put American support for torture at about 45 percent, compared with 64 percent in Nigeria, 66 percent in Kenya and 74 percent in India.
Nigeria is battling a seven-year-old insurgency that has displaced 2 million people and killed thousands, while al Shabaab militants have launched a series of deadly attacks in Kenya. India is fighting a years-old Maoist insurgency that has killed hundreds.
In November, terrorism replaced economy as the top concern for many Americans in Reuters/Ipsos polling, shortly after militants affiliated with the Islamic State killed 130 people in Paris.
At the same time, Trump surged in popularity among Republicans, who viewed him as the strongest candidate to deal with terrorism. Besides his advocacy of waterboarding, Trump said that he would “bomb the hell out of ISIS,” using an alternative acronym for Islamic State. “You’re dealing with people who don’t play by any rules. And I can’t see why we would tie our hands and take away options like waterboarding,” said Jo Ann Tieken, 71, a Trump supporter. Tieken said her views had been influenced by the injuries suffered by her two step-grandsons while serving in the military four years ago in Afghanistan.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll included 1,976 people. It has a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of 2.5 percentage points for the entire group and about 4 percentage points for both Democrats and Republicans.
Is It A Human Rights Violation?
The output of a Reuters/Ipsos poll hasn’t suprised because in the era of cold war, between United States and terror’s groups has been reveanged each others. Indeed, we must understand if the voices of respondents are rejected terror’s group and they have hatred-feeling on terror suspects.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll has shown that Republicans have more deeper reveange on terror suspects than Democrats. If. Trump will be elected on United States Presidential election on next November 2016, the policy of torturing terror suspects will be implemented. If the policy will implement, the prediction of two-thirds of respondents were expected a terrorist attack on U.S. soil within the next six months might be happened, because perhaps terror group’s has made United States as their main enemies whereever the Americans has stayed.
The hatred-feeling to terror groups has shown that surveys by other polling agencies in recent years have shown U.S. support for the use of torture at around 50 percent. A 2014 survey by Amnesty International, for example, put American support for torture at about 45 percent, compared with 64 percent in Nigeria, 66 percent in Kenya and 74 percent in India.
Actually, on waterboarding-an interrogation technique that simulates drowning that human rights groups contend is illegal under the Geneva Conventions. But, we must understand too if terror is an extraordinary crimes so that the opinion of Republicans in United States will implement torture approach against terror suspects can understand. Meantime, we must ask too how about torture approach had been implemented on a wrongful terror suspects? Is it a human rights violation?
Talking about torture approach against terror suspects are a complex matter because violation, hard approach and torture are rejected in the era of democratization and human rights which had been published by United States itself.
All of issues which is diseminated along with the US-presidential campaign should be got our intention, because whoever will be won on the US-presidential election will be realized whatever they said along with campaign time.
For, human rights watch group’s in Indonesia, the stand of Republicans and Democrats in United Stated has shown that human rights implementation in US is a political matter. Its could be delayed if their national interest on threaten. Time to time, United States foreign and homeaffairs policy are broken human rights values such as in Iraq, Afganistan, Somalia, South Sudah, Libya, Pakistan, Egypt and maybe in Indonesia too.
These phenomenon is a valueable lessons for us to more understand about United States manuevre and their hypocritical steps. The important lessons at this article are we must take our national interest as first choice above anything interest including individual and group’s interest. Against terror threat has a common understand and common cooperation without blame each others, because disunity among us is a potential point of attack for terrorist group’s to show up their existances.
*) The writer had earned his master at the University of Indonesia (UI).