Sizeable minority of Americans condone torture

The number of Americans who would condone torture, at least when used on terrorists in order to save lives, has risen over the past two years and now stands at over 40 percent, according to a new opinion poll. The poll released by WorldPublicOpinion.org, a project managed by the University of Maryland, found that a narrow majority of Americans - 53 percent - think all torture should be banned. But 31 percent would accept it in terrorism cases to save innocent lives and a further 13 percent said it should be allowed in other circumstances as well, the nationwide poll of 1,309 people found. The remaining 3 percent did not know or did not answer. The margin of error was 3.3 percent.... [read full story]