Suggesting what "might have happened" had things been done differently in the past is always fun, especially when done by those who have no real way of being proven wrong.

In the real world we have actions and the results. What the results were is that the US gained valuable information from those who were waterboarded. Whether you agree with the method or not, the fact remains that results were produced.

Given who we were dealing with, the odds are that no other tactic would have worked in a timeframe that would make the information useful.