GOFFSTOWN, N.H. — Several Republican candidates called for a return to anti-terrorism tactics that were used — and criticized — under the George W. Bush administration, a moment of hawkish agreement in Saturday’s GOP presidential primary debate.
“I would bring back waterboarding, and I’d bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding,” said billionaire Donald Trump, speaking of the “enhanced interrogation technique” that simulates drowning.
President Obama banned waterboarding, which had been used by the CIA under the Bush administration.
In the same exchange, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas also said he would be open to waterboarding in emergency situations, such as to stop an imminent terrorist attack. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida also approved of it, saying that “anti-terrorism” situations should be handled differently than “law enforcement” and could follow different rules.
Rubio also embraced another Bush administration idea: opening the detention center used to house suspected foreign fighters at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Obama has said he wants to close the center. “We should be putting people into Guantanamo, not emptying it out,” Rubio said.
The main voice against waterboarding was George W. Bush’s brother Jeb, the former Florida governor. Jeb Bush said that waterboarding had been banned. “I think where we stand is the appropriate place,” Jeb Bush said.
Cruz also defended his plan to use “carpet-bombing” on the Islamic State — but seemed to offer an unconventional definition of what carpet-bombing means.
“When I say saturation, carpet-bombing, that is not indiscriminate,” Cruz said. He described the kinds of strikes his carpet bombs would strike: Islamic State buildings, supply lines and other relatively small targets. Typically, carpet-bombing is a term for an intense bombardment of a large area, covering every piece of it like a carpet covers a floor. Strikes against individual buildings and convoys are not typically referred to in this way.
Cruz said that his philosophy for the Islamic State was simple: “Kill the enemy, and then get the heck out. Don’t engage in nation-building.”
After Cruz spoke, Trump discussed his own strategy for the Islamic State, which was to bomb the group’s oilfields — which experts say is possible — and then to “steal” the group’s oil, which they say is effectively impossible.
Earlier, Trump was booed repeatedly by the crowd at the debate, after Trump tried to shush Bush during an exchange about Trump’s attempted use of eminent domain to seize a woman’s house in Atlantic City.
“To turn this into a limousine parking lot for his casinos is not a public use,” said Bush, who has clashed repeatedly with the bombastic Trump in past debates.
“He wants to be a tough guy,” Trump said, returning to the line of attack he’d used in the past, casting Bush as a “low-energy” pushover.
“How tough is it to take property from an elderly woman?” Bush said, as the two tried to talk over each other.
“Lemme talk. Quiet,” Trump said.
The crowd booed.
Trump responded by telling the television audience that the crowd in the arena, at St. Anselm’s College, was full of donors who were unhappy that Trump wouldn’t take their donations.
The crowd — now personally insulted — booed again.
“We have all donors in the audience!” Trump said. “And the reason they’re booing me … I don’t want their money!”
The boos went on. It was Trump’s roughest moment in a debate so far, on a night when lower-tier candidates like Bush and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie — who both need a good showing in New Hampshire to rescue their candidacies — aggressively took on the front-runners.
Christie attacked Rubio repeatedly in the debate, the last before the New Hampshire primary, accusing Rubio of dodging questions from moderators and running away from his own immigration legislation.
Christie, who had earlier savaged Rubio over Rubio’s experience in Congress, pounced after Rubio said he would no longer support the bill he had worked to pass.
“The question was, did he fight for his legislation? It’s abundantly clear that he didn’t. It’s abundantly clear that he didn’t fight for his legislation,” Christie said. “That’s not what leadership is. That’s what Congress is.”
Christie and Rubio are fighting for the support of establishment voters and donors — in essence, vying to be the establishment’s champions against Trump and conservative firebrand Cruz.
