[ToloNews] A new report released by the United Nations ...an organization conceived in the belief that we're just one big happy world, with the sort of results you'd expect from such nonsense... Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) on Thursday details a "disturbing pattern" of attacks at election-related facilities following the commencement of voter registration for the October 2018 polls.
UNAMA verified 23 election-related security incidents since voter registration began on 14 April. These incidents have resulted in 271 civilians being killed and injured, with the vast majority of civilian casualties occurring on 22 April from a suicide kaboom among a crowd gathered outside a national identity card distribution center in Kabul, resulting in 198 civilian casualties, the organization said in a statement on Thursday.
"I am outraged by these attacks deliberately targeting civilians seeking to exercise their constitutional right to vote," said Tadamichi Yamamoto, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan. "These attacks at election facilities are nothing less than an assault on democracy."
The new report, ’Emerging Trends of Election-Related Security Incidents in Afghanistan,’ details how approximately 75 percent of the security incidents since 14 April have taken place at schools or mosques used for election-related purposes, and describes allegations of intimidation of elections-related staff and those seeking to participate in the polls.
"Those who are registering to vote have my utmost respect; they are exercising their constitutional right and putting hope for Afghanistan’s future above concerns about their personal safety," said Yamamoto, who is also head of UNAMA.
"The United Nations, along with the broader international community, remains committed to supporting an Afghan-led election process," he added.
According to international human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. law, everyone has the right to take part in public affairs, to vote and to be elected to government without discrimination and without unreasonable restrictions. All citizens ‐ whether voters, candidates or election-related staff ‐ have the right to be free from fear and intimidation at all stages of an election process, from voter registration through to the post-election period.
Of the 23 election-related security incidents verified by UNAMA and identified in the new report, 10 of them involved threats, harassment and intimidation by anti-government elements against election-related personnel, teachers and potential voters, including allegations of confiscation of identity cards and fines imposed for possession of voter registration stickers.
"Elections-related violence should remind everyone that efforts toward peace in Afghanistan cannot be set aside," said Yamamoto. "The way forward must not rely on a military solution but rather a democratic process, and I once again urge the Taliban ...Arabic for students... to take up President Ghani’s peace offer, participate in the elections, and start direct talks with the government to put an end to the suffering of the Afghan people."
[ToloNews] The Independent Election Commission (IEC) on Thursday announced that the voter registration process will continue in the country’s cities for another month.
So far, the commission says, more than 1.5 million people have registered.
"The number of men who have registered so far is 1,680,681. The number of women is 413,967. And the number of nomads is 35,147," Sayyad said.
Afghanistan has a population of about 34 million, about half of which is of voting age.
[Al Jazeera] Prominent Moslem scholars from three countries are set to meet in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, on Friday, hoping to find a solution to decades of war and bloodshed in Afghanistan.
At the trilateral Ulema Conference, scholars from Afghanistan, Pakistain and Indonesia will discuss challenging the narrative of "holy war" pushed by the Taliban ...Arabic for students... gang as the way to free the country from US-led forces.
The Taliban was removed from power in 2001 after US forces invaded Afghanistan in the wake of the September 11 attacks in New York.
Scholars hope the move will persuade the Taliban, which has been running a bloody armed rebellion since 2001, to come to the negotiating table, but analysts say it could have the opposite effect.
Akram Khpalwak, head of the Afghan government's High Peace Council secretariat, who will attend the Jakarta summit, hopes the participants will reach an agreement and release a "fatwa" - a religious edict issued by an expert in Islamic law - to persuade the Taliban to enter peace negotiations with Afghan officials.
But that seems unlikely, as the Taliban turned down an invitation to the conference, which is organised by the Indonesian government.
'Surrender of Mujahideen'
In a statement in March, the Taliban, who control or exercise influence in 13 percent of Afghanistan's 408 districts, called the conference "un-Islamic" and urged all Islamic scholars to refrain from participating.
"The invaders [the foreign troops in Afghanistan] have employed various stratagems to prolong their indirect occupation, an important part of which is called the 'Peace Process' which seeks the surrender of Mujahideen [Taliban fighters]," the statement said.
Javid Ahmed, a non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council in the US who covers counterterrorism issues in Afghanistan and Pakistain, said the Taliban were concerned by the conference.
This is because "any religious pronouncement against the Taliban or their bully boy tactics could strip Taliban's religious legitimacy, which is the last thing they want to hear".
"It may also marginally curb the Taliban recruitment."
Borhan Osman, an senior Afghan analyst for the International Crisis Group, said a scholarly discussion on the religious dimension of the war in Afghanistan is unprecedented.
"The idea by the Afghan government to get a fatwa from Ulamas [Islamic scholars] to delegitimise the Taliban's fight as jihad was floated seven years ago, but had never made headway until now," he told Al Jazeera.
However, the man who has no enemies isn't anybody and has never done anything... he added: "It is yet to be known how big an impact such a meeting would have, especially as it is not an independent initiative, but undertaken at the request of the Afghan government."
Khpalwak, meanwhile, acknowledged that it would be difficult to achieve the conference's goal as some Pak scholars agree with the Taliban narrative of "holy war".
"I believe whatever agreement we reach on will be in the best interest of Afghanistan, as we will do everything according to the Islamic law," he said.
A senior member of the Taliban's political office in Doha, Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... , who declined to be named, said the group expected Indonesia to work on steps towards ending the "foreign occupation" in Afghanistan, instead of issuing a "fatwa".
"What we [Taliban] expect from them [the Ulemas of Afghanistan, Pakistain and Indonesia] is to contribute to ending the foreign occupation in the country and by extension, to bring peace," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/11/2018 00:00 ||
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has beaten rivals in Tunisia's first free municipal elections but failed to win outright majorities in a poll marked by voter frustration and a low turnout.
Ennahdha came first in several of the country's main cities including Tunis, but fell short of winning outright majorities.
Nationwide, independent lists won 2,367 seats, just shy of a third of the total.
Ennahdha took 2,135 seats and the Nidaa Tounes party of President Beji Caid Essebsi clinched 1,595.
That put Ennahdha ahead in 155 of the country's 350 municipalities, according to estimates by multiple NGOs.
"These results show a real emergence of independent lists as a new actor that will inevitably reshuffle the cards" politically, said analyst Selim Kharrat.
But he added that an alliance between Ennahdha and Nidaa Tounes -- partners in a coalition government nationally since 2014 -- could mean independents will remain in opposition.
The poll was marked by low turnout, with 64 percent of voters abstaining, the electoral commission said Wednesday.
Tunisia's 7,212 municipal councillors now have until July to elect their mayors.
The two top parties are expected to hold talks aimed at upholding their coalition.
The outcome "will depend on Ennahdha's ability to negotiate and rally coalitions at the local level", Kharrat said.
The Islamists won 21 out of 60 seats in the capital, while Nidaa Tounes took 17.
If Ennahdha's candidate Souad Abderrahim wins the backing of a majority of municipal councillors, the 53-year-old pharmacist could become the capital's first ever female mayor, a post previously appointed by the president.
But Nidaa Tounes official Wissam Saidi said its candidate Kamel Idir, also a pharmacist and former president of a leading football club, was better placed to form a coalition as the capital's mayor.
The secular party, whose leaders are already at odds, has been divided over the alliance with the Islamists since it won legislative and presidential elections in 2014.
Kharrat expects a rift between the two main parties to widen in the run-up to next year's polls.
Under reforms passed since the revolution, women accounted for 47 percent of those elected in the local polls.
Despite a low turnout among young voters, more than a third of those who won seats are under the age of 35.
The municipal elections, which had been delayed four times due to logistical, administrative and political deadlocks, were touted as a crucial step towards a decentralisation of power in line with Tunisia's post-2011 revolution.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
05/11/2018 00:00 ||
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[PRESSTV] The European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... has expressed concerns about escalating tensions in Yemen, saying the crisis gripping the impoverished country needs a political solution not a military approach.
In a statement released on Thursday, Maja Kocijancic, the EU spokeswoman for foreign affairs and security policy, said Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic... has witnessed "a dramatic escalation of hostilities" in the past few weeks, resulting in many casualties and civilian infrastructure damage.
"This escalation runs against the commitment of all sides to a political solution of the conflict in Yemen and feeds into a vicious cycle of successive retaliations that risks to undermine the efforts of UN Special Envoy Martin Griffiths and put the resumption of peace talks in jeopardy," the statement read.
"There is no military solution to the conflict in Yemen. Only a negotiated, political solution through an inclusive process can put an end to the conflict and restore hope for stability and peace in the country and the region," it added.
The EU further supported a Wednesday statement by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on the conflict in Yemen.
Guterres reminded the parties to the Yemen crisis that "a negotiated political settlement through inclusive intra-Yemeni dialogue is the only way to end the conflict and address the ongoing humanitarian crisis."
Calling on all sides to refrain from further escalation, he noted that all potential violations of international humanitarian law should be thoroughly investigated.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/11/2018 00:00 ||
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[PRESSTV] Ottoman Turkish President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey... ’s AK Party and its allies will win a majority in the June 24 snap elections that would enable Ankara to switch to an executive presidency, the results of a new poll show.
The MetroPoll survey showed on Thursday that the AK Party would win 48 percent of the votes in the upcoming parliamentary votes, which will be held alongside presidential elections, while the party’s alliance partner, the nationalist MHP, would garner six percent.
The poll was conducted on April 13-20 and surveyed 2,063 people in 28 Ottoman Turkish provinces.
It put support at 21 percent for the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), 12 percent for the newly founded Iyi (Good) Party.
The pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP), whose leader is in jail over terror-related charges, would win 10 percent, a minimum required to enter parliament, according to the poll.
Erdogan announced the snap elections on April 18, saying holding the votes more than a year earlier than planned was needed to enable his party to make the constitutional changes narrowly approved in a last year referendum, which will give him sweeping new powers.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/11/2018 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
[DAWN] The Punjab 1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots.... government is in a dilemma regarding the running of seminaries it has taken over from the banned Jamaat-ud-Dawa ...the front organization of Lashkar-e-Taiba... (JuD) and is considering allocating separate funds for them.
The government froze JuD accounts and that of its sister organization, Falah-e-Insaniyat ...the current false nose and mustache of Jamaat ud-Dawa, which was the false nose and mustache of Lashkar e-Taiba... Foundation (FIF), and the provincial government will now run the affairs of the seminaries and the health unit.
The district administration in Rawalpindi took over one seminary and four health units while the Islamabad administration took over three health facilities and seven ambulances. There were no JuD seminaries in the federal capital, according to details submitted by the Islamabad deputy commissioner.
Auqaf Department Regional Administrator Zahid Iqbal told Dawn that the provincial government had asked the department to prepare a report on the expenses of the seminaries which came under the department’s control in February.
He said the Auqaf Department is running the Madressah Hudebia, the expense report of which has been sent to the Punjab government through the deputy commissioner. This includes teacher salaries, student meals and utility bills. "All district administrations across the province have been asked to submit these details," a senior district administration officer said.
The Auqaf Department conducted an expense survey and submitted a report to the district administration.
According to the report, Madressah Hudebia, on Chakri Road, Naseerabad covers an area of 22 kanals and has 21 administrative officials, 37 teachers and 300 students. The per-month expenses of this seminary are Rs2 million, according to the report.
The Punjab government has not released funds for the education and health facilities in these organizations for the last two months but will be allocating funds in its budget for the next fiscal year.
The health units will not be run by funds of the health authority and will be provided separate funds after receiving a report regarding its expenses.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/11/2018 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] The Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. High Court (PHC) on Thursday suspended the death sentence handed to a man convicted for terrorism by a military court.
The army's media wing last week announced that Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa had ratified the death sentences of 11 murderous Moslems, including one identified as Burhanuddin. He was among three convicts sentenced to death for an attack on a civilian funeral service in Mardan, which resulted in the killing of 30 people, including Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa MPA Mohmind, and left 100 others maimed.
The father of 31-year-old Burhanuddin, Umer Daraz Khan, challenged the military court's sentence through his lawyer Ziaur Rehman Tajik.
Tajik told a two-judge PHC bench comprising Chief Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Afsar Shah that Bajaur Agency, aka Turban Central ...Smallest of the agencies in FATA. The Agency administration is located in Khar. Bajaur is inhabited almost exclusively by Tarkani Pashtuns, which are divided into multiple bickering subtribes. Its 52 km border border with Afghanistan's Kunar Province makes it of strategic importance to Pakistain's strategic depth... native Burhanuddin had been tossed in the slammer Please don't kill me! on Jan 16, 2017, for his involvement in a kaboom.
He claimed that Burhanuddin was mentally unfit and had been undergoing treatment before and throughout the duration of his custody.
Tajik said the family had been unaware of Burhanuddin's location and were informed of his sentencing through the media.
The petitioner wondered how a mentally disabled person could be involved in terrorism and awarded capital punishment, adding that the convict had not been given the opportunity of a fair trial.
Tajik added that the suspect's family claimed the man was innocent and not involved in any terrorist activity.
The bench accepted the family's plea and suspended the military court's sentence, asking the federal government and concerned departments to submit a report and record on the matter in the PHC and fixed May 15 as the date of the next hearing.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/11/2018 00:00 ||
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h/t Red State
[RedState] ...And while Carter’s noble history of waging peace is certainly commendable, there have long been rumors that he ‐ via the Carter Center ‐ may have been enabling terrorist organizations. In April, the Trump administration sought dismissal of a suit brought by the Zionist Advocacy Center against the Carter Center alleging the humanitarian organization had taken $30 million in taxpayer grants and violated "federal statutes barring it from using the cash to provide material support to terror groups." The administration said it was too expensive to prosecute at the time.
Now however, Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), says his organization is filing a suit alleging basically the same thing. Well, knock me over with a feather!
#6
Carter always struck me as being prone to the non sequitur logical fallacies like "We didn't die in a Global Thermonuclear War, therefore all of those Dirty Deeds were unnecessary!" Similar reasoning with Israel and its policies in the Middle East: "Israel should have made nicer with its foes, because they are alive they didn't need to be icky!"
[Al Jazeera] The United Nations ...an organization conceived in the belief that we're just one big happy world, with the sort of results you'd expect from such nonsense... , Russia, La Belle France, Germany and Britannia have urged Israel and Iran to avoid any further escalation after Israel carried out air raids against what it said were Iranian targets in Syria.
Israel said the bombardment on Thursday was in retaliation for Iranian rocket fire on its positions in the occupied Golan Heights. There were no Israeli casulaties.
Iran made no comment about the rocket fire.
The raids come after weeks of rising tensions and followed US President Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... 's decision on Tuesday to withdraw from the landmark 2015 Iran nuclear deal, a move Israel had long advocated.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed for an "immediate halt to all hostile acts" in a statement.
He urged the Security Council to remain actively aware of the situation and "shoulder its responsibilities" under the UN Charter.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/11/2018 00:00 ||
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[PRESSTV] The US Treasury has imposed fresh sanctions on several Iranian individuals and entities in the wake of President Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... 's decision to withdraw Washington from the 2015 nuclear deal.
The US Treasury Department said in a statement on its website Thursday that it had sanctioned six people allegedly tied to the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) and three Iranian entities.
The Treasury also said it was working with the UAE to disrupt a network that was purportedly transferring millions of dollars to the Quds Force, accusing Iran's central bank of helping the group access US dollars held in foreign banks.
In February 2015, Rooters reported that at least $1 billion in cash had been smuggled into Iran despite US and other sanctions. Before it reached Iran, the cash was passed through money changers and front companies in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, and Iraq, sources told Rooters.
Before the 2015 nuclear deal was reached, front companies had mushroomed in Dubai to facilitate payments to Iran. The use of multiple front companies, which bought dollars from currency traders in Dubai and Iraq, was preferred as it concealed the overall size of the dollar purchasing operation.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/11/2018 00:00 ||
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[PRESSTV] "The US road to hell is littered with broken treaties," has said American writer and political analyst Daniel Patrick Welch while commenting on Washington’s violation of the nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers.
On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... declared that his country is pulling out of the Iran deal, saying Washington will not only reinstate the anti-Iran sanctions lifted as part of the deal, but will also "be instituting the highest level of economic" sanctions against the Islamic Theocratic Republic.
Under the deal, reached under Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody... , Iran undertook to put limits on its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of nuclear-related sanctions imposed against Tehran.
While talking to CNN on Wednesday, former US President Jimmy Carter ...only the second worst president ever... said that this "may be the worst mistake Trump has made so far."
"When a president signs an agreement, it should be binding on all his successors, unless the situation changes dramatically and it hasn’t changed," he added.
He also said that abandoning the nuclear agreement with Iran, called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), could complicate the ongoing negotiations with North Korea.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/11/2018 00:00 ||
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#1
It was not a fucking treaty.
It was never ratified by Congress and is essentially butt wipe for the Iranians.
Did any of the other chumps that signed off on this thing have it ratified by their parliament?
It was not a treaty.
Just more twisting of words and playing fast and loose with meanings.
#3
Based on a quick overview of his websites, that's not a bad thing Raj.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
05/11/2018 8:54 Comments ||
Top||
#4
It was not a treaty.
It was nothing more than an informal agreement, one that the Iranians weren't keeping. America gave everything, Iran gave nothing, it was a horrible deal. Valerie Jarret's doing, she felt a connection to Iran and wanted to do her people a favor.
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
05/11/2018 9:21 Comments ||
Top||
#5
"When a president signs an agreement, it should be binding on all his successors, unless the situation changes dramatically
As has been pointed out repeatedly, IT WASN'T A TREATY!
And, in case you missed it, Obama's team lost the election. That was a dramatic change. When you make a deal with a lying traitorous pol you are stupid if you expect his opponents to honor it. Especially when you don't honor it to begin with.
[The Hill] Former Vice President Dick Cheney said Thursday the CIA should restart the controversial enhanced interrogation program used during the George W. Bush administration.
"If it were my call, I would not discontinue those programs. I'd have them active and ready to go," Cheney said during an interview with Fox Business. "And I'd go back and study them and learn."
Cheney, a former secretary of Defense, has long defended the interrogation program that was launched after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. While critics denounce the techniques that were used as torture, Cheney says the program was necessary to keep the nation safe.
"I think the techniques we used were not torture. A lot of people try to call it that, but it wasn’t deemed torture at the time," he told Maria Bartiromo. "People want to go back and try to rewrite history, but if it were my call, I’d do it again."
Following the capture of terrorist suspects like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind behind 9/11, Cheney said the only method to collect information couldn't just be "please tell us."
"You tell me that the only method we have is 'please, please, pretty please, tell us what you know?' Well, I don’t buy that," Cheney said.
#1
In the end, small matter if water boarding or even what the rest of the world utilizes as torture is actually employed. There is nothing to be gained by signing off on ANY technique or tactic in the defense of America. The reality may be an open secret of strict boundaries in such matters, but let the enemy worry and guess on their own time and simply refuse to comment about our methodology.
#4
Torture as a punishment...no, prefer not, just shoot 'em, dig a hole and bury in a sanitary manner. Encouraging psychotic behavior in your agents is a definite minus. Harsh interrogation for a specific intelligence need... that is something different. Then there are trade-offs concerning the severity of the need and the actions. Saying otherwise is the action of a child hoping for the Tooth Fairy to return.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi...
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey...
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
...Smallest of the agencies in FATA. The Agency administration is located in Khar. Bajaur is inhabited almost exclusively by Tarkani Pashtuns, which are divided into multiple bickering subtribes. Its 52 km border border with Afghanistan's Kunar Province makes it of strategic importance to Pakistain's strategic depth...
[PRESSTV] "The US road to hell is littered with broken treaties," has said American writer and political analyst 
Jimmy Carter
[The Hill] Former Vice President Dick Cheney said Thursday the CIA should restart the controversial enhanced interrogation program used during the George W. Bush administration.
