The American Will

Glenn Greenwald takes on the notion that the "American people approve of torture" and other falsehoods of the Villiage Idiots.

One of the most common and most corrosive aspects of our political discourse is the endless assertions -- based on nothing -- about what "Americans believe." It is exceedingly conventional wisdom that Americans generally view the world through the prism of Jack Bauer and therefore want our government to torture, want Guantanamo kept opened, and do not want suspected Terrorists to be tried in civilian courts inside the U.S. It is even more commonly asserted that Americans do not want, and even further, would never tolerate, criminal investigations into the various crimes of Bush officials.

A new Washington Post/ABC News poll released yesterday negates all of those beliefs. Here was the question that was asked about torture -- note that it's phrased in the most pro-torture manner possible, because it is grounded in the ludicrous, 24-clichéd "ticking time bomb" excuse that is the most commonly used argument by torture advocates:

Q. Obama has said that under his administration the United States will not use torture as part of the U.S. campaign against terrorism, no matter what the circumstance. Do you support this position not to use torture, or do you think there are cases in which the United States should consider torture against terrorism suspects?

By a wide margin -- 58-40% -- Americans say that torture should never be used, no matter the circumstances. Let's repeat that: "no matter the circumstance." That margin is enormous among Democrats (71-28%) and substantial among independents (56-43%). As usual these days, Republicans hold the minority view, but even among them there is substantial categorical opposition to torture (42-55%).

The poll goes on to say that a majority of Americans favor closing Gitmo and want to see Bush investigated for possible criminal acts.

Obama has said unequivocally that we will end the Bush torture regime and signed an order today closing Gitmo. The question is will he have the courage to investigate and prosecute Bush? The poll gives a 50%-47% result in favor of doing just that, and there's a strong legal argument (put forth by Greenwald and others) that Obama has no choice but to prosecute by decree of US law.

He's two for two so far. Will he make it three for three, as the American people want?