US Soldier Waterboards 4-Year-Old Daughter
Joshua Tabor, a soldier stationed at the Lewis-McChord base in Tacoma, Washington, decided to punish his 4-year-old daughter for failing to correctly recite the alphabet.
As his daughter ‘squirmed’ to get away, Tabor said he submerged her face three or four times until the water was lapping around her forehead and jawline.
Police went to Tabor’s home after he was arrested after being seen walking around his neighborhood wearing a Kevlar military helmet and threatening to break windows. When they arrived, Tabor’s girlfriend told them about the alleged torture and the terrified girl was found hiding in a closet, with bruising on her back and scratch marks on her neck and throat.
Asked how she got the bruises, the girl is said to have replied: ‘Daddy did it.’
Tabor admitted to police that he chose the CIA torture technique because his daughter was terrified of water.
Vicki
February 8th, 2010 at 4:42 pm
Now, if he had only waterboarded Bush and Cheney, I would have no objections. I have no doubt thought that John Lee and Bybee don't think waterboarding is torture or a crime even in this case.
Peaceful_Idiot
February 8th, 2010 at 4:59 pm
The important question is, did the waterboard convince her to say the alphabet the way he wanted her too? Evidence of efficacy and stuff for the "Torture Works" crowd.
Support the Troops (i.e. the policies that put them in unnecessary danger and drive them mad)
tolemo
February 8th, 2010 at 5:14 pm
My wife,from Kiev, says the Soviet soldiers who were lucky enough to return from Afghanistan, returned as cold blooded animals. Just anecdotal….
Henry_Clemens
February 8th, 2010 at 5:57 pm
Hey, he was only trying to do for his daughter what our troops in the Middle East have been trying to do for people over there; he was just trying to help her to understand "our way of life" and to give her "freedom" from her ignorance. Think God she lived through it. Many havn't.
screeeeeeeaaaaaaaam
February 8th, 2010 at 6:04 pm
Two quotes I have on my blog.
"“In a government of law, the existence of the government will be imperiled if it fails to observe the law scrupulously. Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for the law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy.”
– Justice Louis Brandeis"
and …
"A true revolution of values will lay hand on the world order and say of war, "This way of settling differences is not just." This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation's homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice, and love. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death. [sustained applause] — Dr. M.L.King Jr, Riverside Church, '67"
Sandor
February 8th, 2010 at 6:56 pm
Thanks for the quote screeeeaaam I put it on my facebook profile :)
Lear K
February 8th, 2010 at 11:43 am
I wonder what Rush Llimbaugh,Bill O’reilly,Sean Hannity,Savage,and those many Americans who justify torture and say it works would say in this case?(support the troops indeed!)
fred
February 8th, 2010 at 8:57 pm
WTH….pathetic
February 8, 2010 « Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes?
February 8th, 2010 at 1:23 pm
[...] http://www.antiwar.com/blog/2010/02/08/us-soldier-waterboards-4-year-old-daughter/ [...]
paulBass
February 8th, 2010 at 11:42 pm
"It was hot! The water was hot!" the girl told police, according to the incident report. "I told him I would say my letters then! My heart shirt got wet."
hey no one ever mentioned the cia specifically using "hot" water…
maybe this is another little technique our media heroes can ignore for us
Lear K
February 8th, 2010 at 3:56 pm
This follows the US government’s and its supporters’ motto that waterboarding works,or the end justifies the means.
Bob
February 8th, 2010 at 4:15 pm
One of my fears about "bringing the troops home" is that what they were trained to do to foreigners overseas they will then practice on the "mundanes" at home upon their return. The Founders warnings about the dangers of Standing Armies are appearing more prescient every day.
lesterness
February 9th, 2010 at 1:42 am
I always figured that torture would come home. Probably it'll come to a lot of local police stations. Chicago's had it for several decades, now. It benefitted the career of Richie Daley as Cook County District Attorney, and probably helped make him mayor, like his father. I suspect lots of other pols around the US will try the same. Be skeptical when someone runningfor judge or sheriff or DA says "vote for me, I'm tough on crime!" Maybe he means he will torture random people into false confessions.
lesterness
February 9th, 2010 at 1:44 am
Probably they'd express pious horror in public and in private try to get a video of it for their porn collections.
lesterness
February 9th, 2010 at 1:51 am
"Spare the rod and spoil the child," some religious right sorts will probably say.
Macdonald
February 9th, 2010 at 3:13 am
Publish a retraction for the perps own admission that he waterboarded his daughter because she is afraid of water.
"Tabor admitted to police that he chose the CIA torture technique because his daughter was terrified of water."
Another Clouseau who is oblivious to facts that surround him.
egarris
February 9th, 2010 at 4:36 am
Waterboarding is a term which does not necessarily involve a board.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterboarding#Techni…
It is named for one of many techniques that all involve "simulated" drowning.
andy
February 9th, 2010 at 7:00 am
I wonder and worry how many servicemen and women will return from overseas with mental and emotional problems and what the societal consequences will be. Very, very sad.
duglarri
February 9th, 2010 at 7:34 am
I wonder if this Dad used the technique when the kid was a bit was younger? "You know, ve haf ways of making you talk!!!"
Dad, if you're listening, a little patience is in order. Some kids don't learn the alphabet until they're what, six even? Bet this kid will be able to spell "jail" before school starts.
Strider55
February 9th, 2010 at 10:00 am
Regardless of their campaign rhetoric, judges, DAs, sheriffs & police chiefs need a *high* crime rate to justify their bloated budgets. Add in all the peripheral beneficiaries (court clerks, bailiffs, jailers, construction companies building prisons, etc) and you have what I call the "judicial-industrial complex," which is perhaps even more pernicious than its military counterpart.
Inspector Clouseau
February 9th, 2010 at 2:52 am
I call BS, that was dunking, waterboarding involves being strapped to a board. Sorry no go on this one, I think you should publish a retraction.
Nike
February 9th, 2010 at 12:56 pm
What's the problem with waterboarding a child? Americans have repeatedly assured the rest of us – indignantly at that – that waterboarding ISN'T torture. That waterboarding is only a 'technique.' What's next, Americans crying that their own troops are being subjected to the same treatment that they themselves use on the prisoners in their care? Go figure.
God Bless America.
Lear K
February 9th, 2010 at 10:35 am
Tragedy indeed.This poor child will forever be traumatised by this experience.The dad would be sent to prison or mental institution for some time.But many Americans would never stop clamoring for wars and more wars.
liberranter
February 9th, 2010 at 9:43 pm
I'm sure that police departments all over Amerika are competing right now to get this psychopathic thugscum into one of their porkademies. Given the evolution of the Fat Blue Line Gang into a syndicate of state-sanctioned criminal predators, this guy will fit right in.
Nick P
February 9th, 2010 at 1:46 pm
Horrible!! But an important question to ask is “Was the soldier on Psychotropic medication issued by the army? This would alter anyone’s mind and perception, clearly making them insane.
Inspector Clouseau
February 9th, 2010 at 10:32 pm
Dunking has its own WP entry oh great and knowledgeable one, which like waterboarding has an unrelated sports activity associated with it.
Lear K
February 9th, 2010 at 3:26 pm
A lie will take a life of its own.It will be repeated by Rush and the likes of Rush and a great majority of Americans would accepet it as they accepetd the lies about Iraq and continued to do so .
Lear K
February 9th, 2010 at 3:28 pm
Sorry wrong place for the above comment.
damocles
February 10th, 2010 at 2:45 am
My God. Hide your daughters, the US military is coming! I have been saynig "Bring the troops Home" for a long time. Maybe that is too dangerous.
Andy
February 10th, 2010 at 5:28 am
The Founders would be sickened if they could see what America is like today.
Drain 52
February 10th, 2010 at 11:01 am
C'mon people. It's called "enhanced education techniques" and comes highly recommended by its author, Biffy "The Loo" Yoo. Note how ready the little girl was to recite the alphabet, even if in the wrong order.
Lear K
February 10th, 2010 at 6:31 am
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=z1YzAAAAIBAJ&sjid=eggGAAAAIBAJ&pg=6557,4734584&dq=us+soldier+accused+of+raping+and+then+burning+iraqi+girl&hl=en
Rose Hunter
February 11th, 2010 at 5:22 pm
PUKIE dad waterboards daughter 4, next SEX with her.
MoT
February 11th, 2010 at 6:11 pm
That's right. I just had a conversation with a friend yesterday who actually said that when someone is waterboarded 182 times that "that's OK" and that they should do it more. Can you believe that? And that from a Vietnam draft resister no less.
Tim T.
February 11th, 2010 at 6:29 pm
The chickens have started to come home. Well, we tried to warn people.
Torpedo
February 12th, 2010 at 12:19 pm
Still bumbling, eh..,Clouseau?
What difference does it make. He tortured his 4 year old daughter.
Give it a rest.
liberalJew
February 12th, 2010 at 1:25 pm
This good dad is a soldier, therefore a PUKIE!, ain-t friendly fascism great????
jon
February 12th, 2010 at 11:56 pm
Josh is only doing what christians and the taliban do best.
j
Milton
February 13th, 2010 at 6:05 pm
I guess we can ask, did the military let this “mental deficient” into their ranks or did they make this normal guy in this “mental deficient”. Even Ronald Reagan said that water boarding was torture, but I guess Cheney and his gay daughter are the brain trust on this lie that has been perpetuated onto the American people and signed off by the GOP.
dave
February 14th, 2010 at 4:29 am
Rush Limbo and the talk radio crowd will tell you that this is just all a bunch of fraternity hi-jinks. We don't torture. Everyone knows that!
lesterness
February 14th, 2010 at 11:30 am
Beer, pot, meth, most likely.
lesterness
February 14th, 2010 at 11:32 am
Rush must've belonged to a wierd fraternity. Bush got his DKE house closed just branding new members!
Dave
February 14th, 2010 at 3:58 pm
This kid will possibly now remain illiterate. Nice to know our troops are defending our way of life and that our national priorities remain firm.
We're number 1! We're number 1! We're number 1!
Bill K.
February 16th, 2010 at 2:58 am
What next?
Guy breaks down doors of his neighbor's houses and starts firing at anything that moves inside?
seannielson
June 11th, 2010 at 3:54 pm
This soldier must have been affected by post war anxieties to do such a horrible thing to his own daughter
.
http://www.letsjustgiveitaway.com
Criminallawyers
March 7th, 2011 at 3:26 am
I much much depressed about this news.Really something should be done to stop these types of activities.I am just praying to my lord that all the favor should be done to our world.Criminal defense lawyers in Houston Texas,Federal criminal attorney in Harris County Texas,<a href="http://houstoncriminalattorney.com/blawg/category/federal-criminal-attorneys-in-harris-county-texas/" title="Federal criminal attorneys in Harris County Texas
">Federal criminal attorneys in Harris County Texas