President Trump repeated his assertion that waterboarding is a successful counterterrorism tactic on Thursday amid rumors that his administration will soon review use of enhanced interrogation tactics on the battlefield.
“We have evil that lurks around the corner without the uniforms,” Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity. “They’re sneaky, dirty rats. And they blow people up in a shopping center. And they blow people up in a church. These are bad people.”
Trump compared Islamic State fighters to Nazis, arguing terrorists present a different set of challenges because they are harder to identify.
“When you’re fighting Germany, they had their uniforms, and Japan, and they had their uniforms and they had their flags on the plane and the whole thing,” Trump said.
“We are fighting sneaky rats right now that are sick and demented. And we’re going to win.”
Although Trump has said he will defer to Defense Secretary James Mattis and CIA Director Mike Pompeo on the issue of torture, neither of whom support the practice, the president has expressed support for such an approach in the past.
“So, waterboarding used to be used because they said it really wasn’t torture. It was the one step slightly below torture,” Trump said.
“I mean, torture is real torture, OK? Waterboarding is — I’m sure it’s not pleasant, but waterboarding was just short of torture. When — you know, all of a sudden, they made it torture.”
Trump noted Mattis’ opposition to the practice.
“I spoke with people the other day who are in this world that were talking about it. Absolutely, it works. Absolutely,” Trump said.
“Now, General Mattis said that he doesn’t intend to use it. I’m with him all the way. Do I believe it works? Yes, I do.”
“In my opinion, it works,” Trump added.
