 |
|
|
 |
||
|
||
|
The Washington Post Most Americans broadly endorse steps taken by the Bush administration to investigate and prosecute suspected terrorists and express little concern that these measures may violate the rights of U.S. citizens or others caught up in the ongoing probes, according to a survey by The Washington Post and ABC News. Six in 10 agree with President Bush that suspected terrorists should be tried in special military tribunals and not in U.S. criminal courts -- a proposal that has come under increasing fire from civil libertarians as well as some influential Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill. Seven in 10 Americans believe the government is doing enough to protect the civil rights of suspected terrorists. An equally large majority believe the government is sufficiently guarding the rights of Arab Americans and American Muslims as well as noncitizens from Arab and Muslim countries. The findings reflect a wellspring of public support as the Bush administration continues even its most controversial investigative methods to bring suspected terrorists to justice. The administration is clearly counting on such support to help counter mounting concern on Capitol Hill. "They're flying in the face of a lot of influential people, including senior members of the House and Senate from their own party," said Leslie Gelb, president of the Council on Foreign Relations. "Instead, they're relying on public opinion." Nearly three out of four of those surveyed also agree that it should be legal for the federal government to wiretap conversations between suspected terrorists and their attorneys. An even larger majority -- 79 percent -- support plans by federal prosecutors to interview about 5,000 young men here on temporary visas from the Middle East. And nearly nine in 10 believe the United States is justified in detaining about 600 foreign nationals for violating immigration laws. "If we keep going the way we're going with civil liberties, other countries are going to see us as a patsy," said Marta Salcedo, manager of a dental office in Manhattan. "You have to change with the times." Salcedo said she had little regard for the rights of suspects held in connection with the attacks. "They should torture them," she said. "Sometimes you have to do things that are uncivilized." Not all Americans are comfortable with Bush's tactics, with women and minorities somewhat less likely than men and whites to embrace them. "I am concerned that we not become a runaway train when it comes to civil liberties," said Melissa Atkinson, a retired librarian and community volunteer in Tulsa. "The idea of secret military tribunals makes me nervous. . . . It's always harder to get these basic freedoms back once we relinquish them." The apparent willingness of many Americans to place security above civil rights protections comes as no surprise to experts on public opinion. "In periods of high stress and threat, support for civil liberties goes down," said George Marcus, a political scientist at Williams College. "Most Americans don't think of rights as unqualified or universal. There are two codicils: Rights are only for us American citizens. And two, rights assume that people are going to use them wisely or responsibly." A total of 759 randomly selected adults were interviewed Tuesday night for this poll. Margin of sampling error is plus or minus 4 percentage points. The survey found overwhelming support for Bush and the war in Afghanistan. Bush's overall job approval rating stood at 89 percent, largely unchanged in the past two months. A similar majority supported the U.S. military action in Afghanistan, and 93 percent said the war was going well, up eight points from earlier this month. The survey also suggests that Americans would support broadening the shooting war on terrorism to include Iraq. Nearly eight in 10 -- 78 percent -- favored U.S. forces taking military action against Iraq to topple Saddam Hussein. The survey also suggests that although the majority of Americans say the nation should play a significant role in ensuring stability in Afghanistan, they are less interested in the United States taking the lead in nonmilitary efforts. One in three said America should take the lead in providing humanitarian aid or peacekeeping troops, with four in 10 supporting "a large role" in these efforts. One in five said America should play the principal part in establishing a new Afghan government. In contrast, more than half said the United States should play the lead role in ensuring that terrorist groups cannot reestablish themselves in Afghanistan. "The one issue where you're getting the administration going straight into the wind with the American public is on peacekeeping," said Robert Orr, a scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a Clinton-era National Security Council staffer. "The public generally wants the U.S. involved in peacekeeping, which is clearly different from where the administration is going in saying there is no role for the U.S. in the peacekeeping phase." Staff writers Christine Haughney in New York and Lois Romano in Tulsa contributed to this report. Copyright 2001 The Washington Post Adobe PDF downloadable
version
|
||
.
©1998-99 The University of Chicago Law School®