WASHINGTON: Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump renewed a call for tougher US border security following Tuesday´s deadly attacks in Brussels, and suggested torture could be an effective technique to gain information to thwart future attacks.
Trump's comments, in an interview on NBC´s "Today" programme, came a day after he expressed skepticism about the US role in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and said the United States should significantly cut spending on the defense alliance.
"As president I would be very, very tough on the borders, and I would be not allowing certain people to come into this country without absolute perfect documentation," Trump said.
The billionaire businessman said waterboarding would be a "fine" way to gather information in an effort to prevent such attacks if it was legalised.
"If they could expand the laws, I would do a lot more than waterboarding. You have to get the information from these people," he told NBC.
Waterboarding is the practice of pouring water over someone´s face to simulate drowning as an interrogation tactic.
Critics say it is torture, and President Barack Obama banned use of the method days after taking office in 2009.
Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton acknowledged Americans have a right to be frightened after a spate of recent attacks but said military leaders have found techniques like waterboarding are not effective. "We´ve got to work this through consistent with our values," she said on NBC, adding officials "do not need to resort to torture, but they are going to need more help."
Thirty-four people were killed in attacks on Brussels airport ,, CLICK TO READ MORE
and a rush-hour metro train in the Belgian capital, according to public broadcaster VRT, triggering security alerts across Europe and bringing some cross-border traffic to a halt. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the US House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, said the attacks "bear all the hallmarks of an ISIS-inspired, or ISIS-coordinated attack," using an acronym for Islamic State.
The attacks will likely revive national security as a key issue in the 2016 race for the White House, at least for now. Trump´s Republican rival John Kasich, the governor of Ohio, struck a more diplomatic tone, pledging to "redouble our efforts with our allies" and saying the United States "must strengthen our alliances" in the face of acts of terror.
US Senator Ted Cruz, a conservative who is running second to Trump in the Republican delegate count, called the blasts in Belgium "the latest in a string of coordinated attacks by radical Islamic terrorists."
Source Gew news
Source Gew news
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