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 In an interview on ABC's "This Week" program, Trump discussed
reviving the tactic and implementing other interrogation techniques,
pointing to the recent beheadings of Christians in the Middle East
as evidence of the need for stronger interrogation methods for
suspected operatives of extremist groups.
"We're like living in medieval times," he said. "If I have to do it
and if it's up to me, I would absolutely bring back waterboardng.
And if it's going to be tougher than waterboarding, I would bring
that back, too."
When pressed by interviewer George Stephanopoulos if that meant the
United States employing similar methods of beheading captors, Trump
responded: "We're going to do things beyond waterboarding," adding,
"Perhaps, if that happens to come."
 The issue of waterboarding and other methods of interrogation was
raised during Saturday night's New Hampshire Republican debate aired
on ABC, with the billionaire businessman saying he would not only
revive the controversial method's use, but bring back "a hell of a
lot worse" if elected.
Waterboarding is the practice of pouring water over someone’s face
to mimic drowning as an interrogation tactic. Critics say it is
torture, and Democratic President Barack Obama banned use of the
method days after taking office in 2009.
Trump's rival and a fellow leader in opinion polls, Senator Ted Cruz
of Texas, said during the debate that he would only allow limited
use of the practice but said it did not constitute torture.
Waterboarding was used by the CIA under the Bush administration
during the early days of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in the
aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Its defenders say it helped
to keep America safe by garnering more information from captives,
but critics argued the method never actually yielded actionable
intelligence.
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Republicans have been critical of Obama's decision to eliminate the
practice, saying it telegraphs a position of weakness to the
nation's enemies and concedes that the United States erred in using
waterboarding.
On Sunday, Trump argued that the "evil" nature of modern times
required more robust interrogation techniques, saying that U.S.
enemies are thriving in the absence of them.
"They laugh at us. Our enemies laugh at us, George. They say
waterboarding, they don't even think it's a form - you know, they
don't even view that as real torture," he said.
New Hampshire, where Trump maintains a lead over Republican rivals
in the U.S. nominating contest for the Nov. 8 election, casts its
primary ballots on Tuesday, the week after Iowa kicked off the
process.
(Editing by Caren Bohan, Mary Milliken and Jonathan Oatis)
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