Many Americans worried about rights amid war on terror: poll

Agence France Presse ^ | 9/17/02 | staff

[ppaul]

WASHINGTON, Sept 17 (AFP) - Nearly half of all Americans are concerned the United States will give up too many rights and freedoms as it steps up its war on terror, according to a new opinion survey made public Tuesday. The survey, commissioned by the National Constitution Center, showed that 49 percent of respondents were worried the government would abandon too many civil liberties out of fears of terrorism.

However, 40 percent said they were concerned that terrorists would take advantage of the rights and freedoms granted by the US Constitution to do the country harm. The poll reveals a high degree of concern that the government has given law enforcement agencies too much power to snoop on people's private lives.

A third of respondents said the government is "threatening to cross the line" in its handling of people's right to privacy while another 21 percent said it had already done so.

But 42 percent said they did not view the war on terrorism as a serious threat to their right to privacy, according to the survey.

Even faced with the threat of new terrorist strikes, Americans showed little appetite for racial profiling, the poll showed.

While 58 percent expressed support for random screening of all passengers at airports, only 11 percent said airport screening should be limited to passengers with Arabic names or Middle Eastern appearance.

Ninety-two percent thought everyone who takes flying lessons should receive a background check, according to the survey. But only six percent felt background checks should be limited only to people of Middle Eastern or Arabic descent.

Some of the terrorists, who hijacked US passenger planes on September 11, 2001 and rammed them into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, had received flight training in the United States. On the other hand, nearly six out of 10 respondents said they supported as a "sensible" tool against terrorism a new law that enables the Federal Bureau of Investigation to obtain court orders to secretly monitor conversations between suspected terrorists and their lawyers.

The survey of 1,520 adults had a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.

Link to article HERE.

[ppaul]

Some of the terrorists, who hijacked US passenger planes on September 11, 2001 and rammed them into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, had received flight training in the United States.

Good to see the press referring to them as "terrorists" again.