Poll shows divide on question of torture (The World Opposes Bush)

Edited on Tue Dec-06-05 04:17 AM by ECH1969

WASHINGTON - Most people in eight countries that are American allies don't want the United States conducting secret interrogations of terror suspects on their soil - a sensitive question after recent reports of secret prisons run by the CIA in eastern Europe.

About two-thirds of the people living in Canada, Mexico, South Korea and Spain said they would oppose allowing the U.S. to secretly interrogate terror suspects in their countries. Almost that many in Britain, France, Germany and Italy said they feel the same way. Almost two-thirds in the United States support such interrogations in the U.S. by their own government.

Almost four in 10, 38 percent, in the United States said they thought torture could be justified at least sometimes. About one-fourth said it could be justified rarely, and 36 percent said it could never be justified.

They were conducted between Nov. 15 and Nov. 28. Each poll had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.