Last week in class I made the off-hand remark that most Americans don't care about what is happening at Guantanamo Bay. My opinion was based more upon anecdote than fact. However polling data does appear to support my claim. A 2005 poll found that while Americans were beginning to question the war in Iraq, they still firmly supported the government's handling of the detainees at Guantanamo. While the rest of the world considered the American policy to border on lawlessness, seven-out-of-ten adults in America believed the prisoners there were being treated "better than they deserve" (36%) or "about right" (34%). However, a year later polls found that 70% of American believed that the detainees should not be held indefinitely without being charged with some kind of crime.
Why the reversal? First, the second poll was taken just after the U.S. Supreme Court had issued it's opinion in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld saying that the U.S. must provide detainees with some kind of hearing to challenge their detention. Arguably, before this case caught the media's attention most Americans had no idea these detainees had never been given the chance to challenge their detention. Second, Americans are becoming increasingly suspect of many things the Bush Administration is doing as part of their "War on Terror." With that said, it's striking that no Presidential candidate from either party dares to mention Guantanamo. That's likely because most Americans still believe that Guantanamo houses the "worst of the worst" terrorists, as we have been told repeatedly by the President. As an award winning radio story nicely illustrated recently, the idea that the "worst of the worst" are at Guantanamo is just part of the long line of untruths spread by the Administration concerning it's war on terror policy.
