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NASHUA, New Hampshire: Businessman and possible Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump says Osama bin Laden would not have been tracked down and killed without the use of enhanced interrogation methods against terrorism captives in US military prisons.
The real estate mogul and reality TV star says interrogation methods such as waterboarding _ which simulates drowning _ and other harsh treatment were necessary to bin Laden's killing. He said such methods should be called torture.
In the days since bin Laden was killed in Pakistan, officials have sidestepped questions about whether waterboarding and other so-called enhanced interrogation of detainees had produced information that led to the raid.
Trump spoke Wednesday to a business organization in New Hampshire, the state that holds the first party primary election in the nation. Trump's approval ratings have fallen off sharply after President Barack Obama produced his original birth certificate. Trump had gained broad attention claiming Obama had not proved he was born in the US and may have been ineligible to hold the presidency.
He told a packed ballroom of business leaders he takes full credit for forcing President Barack Obama to release his detailed birth certificate in response to those who question whether he was born in the United States.
''I took on the president,'' Trump said.
Trump also accused Obama of keeping taxes level for now in order to win re-election, with plans to raise them ''through the roof'' if he wins. Trump offered no proof, however.
''I believe he's holding them down now because he wants to get through this election,'' Trump said. – AP
