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 (267)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
May 17, 2004 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 2265

Emails discuss the handling of detainee death and abuse cases, authors comment on the investigations and different training techniques being used as a result of the reports and investigations. Included is an Associated Press article which ...

Feb. 15, 2006
Email
James R. Helmly, Michael W. Beasley, Donald J. Ryder, Romie Leslie Brownlee, Donald H. Rumsfeld, John Warner, Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Condoleeza Rice, Colin L. Powell, George W. Casey, Jr., Carl Levin, Antonio Taguba, Peter Pace, Pat Roberts, Thomas Andrew Daschle, George W. Bush
Dilawar, Habibullah
Sept. 19, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4487
This cable address questions and concerns over the visiting, the status and treatment of Guantanamo detainees. The memo states that the detainees are illegal combatants, and not Prisoners of War (POWs). It states Al Qaeda is a foreign terrorist ...
Aug. 09, 2005
Cable
Colin L. Powell
Colin L. Powell
Feb. 07, 2002 | WH | ACLU-RDI 4684
This White House memo discusses the treatment of detainees taken in the War on Terror and how they are to be classified and the determination of their legal status.
June 08, 2005
Non-legal Memo
George W. Bush
Richard B. Cheney | Colin L. Powell | Donald H. Rumsfeld | John D. Ashcroft | I. Lewis Libby | George Tenet | Condoleeza Rice
George W. Bush, Richard B. Cheney, Colin L. Powell, John D. Ashcroft, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Condoleeza Rice, I. Lewis Libby, George J. Tenet
Mar. 18, 2003 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4699
This memo is to address questions and concerns over the status and treatment of Guantanamo detainees. The memo states that: 1) the U.S. does not permit, tolerate or condone torture; 2) Detainees get excellent medical care; 3) the Al-Qaeda ...
June 08, 2005
Cable
Colin L. Powell
Colin L. Powell, George W. Bush
Mar. 19, 2003 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4700
State Department cable stating that the U.S. has come to an agreement to return five (5) Guantanamo detainees back to their home country. The agreement includes assurances from the receiving country that the detainees will receive humane ...
June 08, 2005
Cable
Colin L. Powell
Colin L. Powell, Ronald W. Miller, Pierre-Richard Prosper
Jan. 06, 2005 | Legislative | ACLU-RDI 3549

Questions for Alberto Gonzalez, during his confirmation hearing, including many related to the treatment of detainees

June 01, 2005
Interview (Transcript)
Patrick Leahy
Alberto Gonzalez
Alberto R. Gonzales, John D. Ashcroft, Patrick Leahy, George W. Bush, Colin L. Powell, Donald H. Rumsfeld, George J. Tenet
July 29, 2004 | FBI | ACLU-RDI 3332
Memo regarding the transfer of Guantanamo detainees with habeas corpus proceedings pending
May 18, 2005
Email
Patrick W. Kelley
John F. Curran
Bruce J. Gebhardt, Patrick W. Kelley, Gary M. Bald, John S. Pistole, Maureen Baginski, Grant Ashley, Jonathan I. Solomon, James A. McAtamney, Colin L. Powell, Thomas J. Harrington, Valerie E. Caproni, Anne M. Gulyassy
May 11, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4660
Hand written note from Colin Powell to Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz concerning a note from UK Foreign Minister Jack Straw.
May 18, 2005
Notes
Colin L. Powell
Donald H. Rumsfeld | Paul Wolfowitz
Colin L. Powell, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Condoleeza Rice, George J. Tenet
May 05, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 1193
Summary of comments made through media outlets by General Peter Schoomaker, General George Casey, Major General Geoffrey Miller, Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, President George Bush, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, General Peter Pace, ...
May 16, 2005
Non-legal Memo
Peter Schoomaker, George W. Casey, Jr., Geoffrey D. Miller, Mark Traecey Patrick Kimmitt, George W. Bush, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Condoleeza Rice, Peter Pace, Colin L. Powell
Feb. 07, 2002 | WH | ACLU-RDI 201
This is a memo from President Bush to the Vice President and other key administration personnel stating that "none of the provisions of Geneva apply to our conflict with al Qaeda in Afghanistan or elsewhere throughout the world because, among ...
Apr. 06, 2005
Non-legal Memo
George W. Bush
Richard B. Cheney | Colin L. Powell | Donald H. Rumsfeld
George W. Bush, Richard B. Cheney, Colin L. Powell, John D. Ashcroft, George J. Tenet