Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump has called for the return of waterboarding, saying it is “peanuts” compared with what the Islamic State is doing. “I think waterboarding is peanuts compared to what they’d do to us”, Trump told “This Week” on ABC.
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Trump, who ignited controversy earlier last week by calling for a registry of all Muslims in the United States, stepped up the hardline rhetoric in an interview with ABC News in which he advocated the use of simulated drownings, known as waterboarding, in interrogations of terrorism suspects. He referenced James Foley-the U.S. journalist who ISIS beheaded in 2014-as an example.
He said Sunday that he would want a database of Syrian refugees coming into the USA “When the Syrian refugees are going to start pouring into this country, we don’t know if they’re ISIS, we don’t know if it’s a Trojan horse”, he said.
On mosques, he said: “I don’t want to close mosques”.
As for his latest hearty batch of bullshit, Trump dropped this doozy of misinformation on a crowd during a rally yesterday in Birmingham: “Hey, I watched when the World Trade Center came tumbling down”, Trump said.
Waterboarding was used to interrogate prisoners during the administration of George W. Bush, but was banned by the Obama administration in 2009.
“If we have an enemy of state, I don’t want to give him anything”, Trump said.
Mr Trump was also asked on ABC whether he would rule out a database on all Muslims in the US.
“There were people over in New Jersey that were watching it, a heavy Arab population, that were cheering as the buildings came down”, Trump said.
Rumors have surfaced over the years about Muslims cheering in Paterson, N.J., as the twin towers collapsed, but those claims were discounted by local police at the time.
Since he entered the GOP presidential race over the summer, Trump has catapulted to the top of the crowded field, tapping into an electorate discontented with the political establishment.
Trump’s critics say he is offering unrealistic programs based on incomplete information, a few of which would violate civil rights.
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Trump also stoked fears among the Republican Party that if he does not capture the party’s nomination, he will seek a third-party run for president. “I want a database for the refugees that – if they come into the country”. “When I did this, I said I have to be treated fairly. I have to be treated fairly”, he said.
