Has the war on terrorism made us more paranoid and fearful, to the point where we are more likely to support torture? As reported by BBC News, new research shows that there are interesting differences across nations on how they likely they are to feel that some forms of torture are acceptable (the red bars) versus those who say that all torture is wrong (the blue bars) -- the graph is courtesy of Swivel.com:

While most polled in the US are against torture, opposition there is less robust than in Europe and elsewhere. . . . All of the countries surveyed have signed up to the Geneva Conventions which prohibit the use of torture and cruel and degrading behaviour.

But countries that face political violence are more likely to accept the idea that some degree of torture is permissible because of the extreme threat posed by terrorists. Israel has the largest percentage of those polled endorsing the use of a degree of torture on prisoners, with 43% saying they agreed that some degree of torture should be allowed. However, a larger percentage - 48% - think it should remain prohibited.

I suppose it’s understandable that countries that have experienced political violence are more likely to support torture. But I also find it quite interesting that citizens in countries that have experienced more political violence than the U.S. -- France, Germany, Great Britain, Egypt -- are all less likely to support torture than Americans.