Child Abuse

Soldier Waterboards 4-Year-Old Daughter

Was angry she couldn’t recite the alphabet.

U.S. Army soldier Joshua Tabor has admitted to waterboarding his 4-year-old daughter because she couldn’t recite the alphabet, according to police. Tabor, stationed at Fort Lewis, Washington, was arrested after being seen walking around his neighborhood wearing a military-issue Kevlar helmet and threatening to break windows. Cops went to Tabor’s home and spoke with his girlfriend, who told them she found the girl hiding in a closet with bruises and scratches on her back and neck. “Daddy did it,” the girl told the woman. Police say Tabor admitted to the torture because he was so angry the girl could not recite the alphabet. He chose waterboarding—the CIA torture technique that simulates drowning and has been banned by the Obama administration—because he knew the girl was terrified of water. He had won custody of his daughter only four weeks earlier. Police have not given details about Tabor’s military service.