Why the CIA won't waterboard, even if ordered by the president

Re:Why the CIA won't waterboard, even if ordered by the pres... by kitd on Monday April 11, 2016 @12:05PM (#11472490)

Article 1 of the German constitution is "Human dignity is inviolate". Ie, a human life has inherent value, and threats against it must not be used for any purpose, however "good" those purposes might be on the surface. I think there is a wealth of good that emerges from this one single principle.

IIRC, a German police chief tried to torture a kidnapper to reveal the whereabouts of a child whose life was under threat. The police chief was charged even though the child's life was saved (I may have got the details skewed but I believe the key points are true).

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Re:Why the CIA won't waterboard, even if ordered by the pres... by Xylakant on Monday April 11, 2016 @12:12PM (#11472564)

You're referring to this case: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_David_Lukas_Olsen (see biography, the german article is much more extensive on the case). You have your details wrong: The vice police chief threatened a suspect kidnapper with torture, but the child was already dead by that time. The police chief was later convicted (though more a slap on the wrist than a real punishment)

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Re:Why the CIA won't waterboard, even if ordered by the pres... by kitd on Monday April 11, 2016 @05:33PM (#11475296)

Thanks. It was the threat of torture from the police that I remembered.

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