Former CIA Operative Says Waterboarding Isn't Torture

Part of criticism of Zero Dark Thirty

Author and former CIA operative Wayne Simmons sat down with the hosts of Fox & Friends on Wednesday to join many of his CIA colleagues in slamming the authenticity of the torture tactics depicted in the movie Zero Dark Thirty. In particular, he took issue with the prolific use of waterboarding in the film, saying that this is not a torture tactic but a valuable technique used to gain information from uncooperative terror suspects.

"It's getting some good reviews out there for its authenticity, but you say there are some things that are wildly inaccurate," Clayton Morris asked Simmons. He went on to single out the torture tactics depicted in the film and asked what Simmons thought was deceptive about that depiction.

He replied by saying that, personally, he did not feel that enhanced interrogation techniques constitute torture. "Waterboarding is not torture," Simmons said. "It is simply a technique used to gain valuable information."