Trump says US at disadvantage because of anti-torture laws

WEST PALM BEACH, Florida (AP) — Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump says that, as president, he would push to change laws that prohibit waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques, arguing that banning them puts the U.S. at a strategic disadvantage against Islamic State militants.

During the past week, in a series of interviews and events, Trump has articulated a loose, but expansive set of principles that, if enacted, would mark a fundamental shift in the strategy the Obama administration has employed to fight violent extremism.

In addition to arguing in favor of reinstating waterboarding, a technique that mimics the sensation of drowning, and "much more than that," Trump has advocated the killing of militants' wives and children, which appears in violation of international law.

Pressed Sunday on why he believed waterboarding had been banned, Trump said the U.S. was being "weak" by not employing the militants' tactics.

Because I think we're a weak —I think we've become very weak and ineffective.