After September 11, 2001, U.S. officials authorized the cruel treatment and torture of prisoners held in Afghanistan, Iraq, Guantanamo, and the CIA's secret prisons overseas.

This database documents the U.S. government's official experiment with torture. At present, the database contains well over 100,000 pages of government documents obtained primarily through Freedom of Information Act litigation and requests filed by the ACLU, and through litigation of Salim v. Mitchell, a lawsuit brought by the ACLU on behalf of the survivors and the family of a dead victim of the CIA torture program. To learn more about the database, please read the About and Search Help pages. If you're a developer, you can also access this data through our API.

Search Result (20)

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DOS Memo re: Background on Detainee Policy. This is part of a larger memo that is not attached herein. The background information contained here states: On November 13, 2001, President Bush issued a Military order authorizing the detention of ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Non-legal Memo
George W. Bush, Donald H. Rumsfeld
State Department presentation delivered by Adam Roberts, Professor of International Relations at Oxford University and Fellow of Balliol College, entitled "Counter-terrorism, Armed Force and the Laws of War."
Dec. 30, 2004
Non-legal Memo
Adam Roberts
This State Department document is a talking points memo addressing the Guantanamo detainees and their treatment. It states: The United States has detained al-Qaida, Taliban, and other enemy combatants who pose a threat to the U.S. and our allies; ...
State Department memo addressing the release of January 2002 photographs of unidentified Guantanamo detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The memo states that although there was criticism of the release of the photo(s) the release was not a ...
This is a State Department talking points memo on how to address the issues of detainees and detainee abuse. It references speeches and interviews that President Bush and other administration officials have given to describe and give context as ...
Memo is a press guidance that discusses the State Department's release and withholding of documents/memos.
Dec. 30, 2004
Non-legal Memo
George W. Bush, Charles L. Daris
This DOS memo appears to be talking points for a John Dimitri Negroponte interview with Jim Lehrer on topics, including detainee abuse, detainee policy, and Saddam Hussein.
Dec. 30, 2004
Non-legal Memo
George W. Bush, Frank E. Schmelzer , John Dimitri Negroponte
This State Department memo is a partial of a larger memo entitled "Interrogations and Army Regulations". and states "The Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War provides that "no physical or mental torture, nor any other form of coercion, may be ...
Jan. 12, 2005
Non-legal Memo
Edward R. Cummings, Todd F. Buchwald, James H. Thessin
DOS Memo talking points on United Nations Report on Human Rights in Iraq. Guidance states that the some of the report's findings related to alleged human rights violations are based on generalized allegations that fail to indicate where or when ...
State Department memo on treatment of detainees in Iraq during the U.S. occupation. This is a talking points memo to address concerns and questions about the U.S. role, commitment and treatment of certain persons in accordance with international ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Non-legal Memo
George W. Bush
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