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 (6709)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
May 19, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4302
State Department cable from Kabul Embassy to Sec. of State re: Afghan Human Rights Chief. Amb. Khalilzad states that he discussed detainee issues with Sima Samar, Chairperson of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission.
Dec. 17, 2004
Cable
Zalmay Mamozy Khalilzad
Colin L. Powell
Colin L. Powell, Zalmay Mamozy Khalilzad
May 19, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4303
DOS Memo re: Talking Points on Meeting with Pakistan Foreign Minister Kurshid Mahmud Kasuri. Entirely redacted.
Dec. 17, 2004
Non-legal Memo
Colin L. Powell, Robert Wagner
May 19, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4304
Email from Elizabeth A. Sears to Anna Corfiled, Ashok Parameswaran and Others re: Afghan Human Rights Chief. No attachment included, no additional comments.
Dec. 17, 2004
Email
Elizabeth A. Sears
Ashok Parameswaran | Anna Corfiled
Jeremy D. Caddel
May 19, 2004 | DIA | ACLU-RDI 4861
A DIA Official who toured through Iraq from October 28, 2003 through April 21, 2004 was interviewed about his knowledge of the abuse allegations at Abu Ghraib prison. The official stated that he visited Abu Ghraib on two (2) occasions and did not ...
Apr. 24, 2006
Non-legal Memo
Antonio Taguba, Ricardo Sanchez
May 19, 2004 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 5610
This is the Autopsy Report of Wathik Salah Mihdy, a 50 year old detainee at Abu Ghraib Prison, Baghdad, Iraq. The Report states that Mr. Mihdy suffered from blockage of the blood vessels supplying blood to his heart & brain. Cause of Death: ...
Jan. 14, 2011
Medical (Autopsy)
Wathik Salah Mihdy
May 18, 2004 | Legislative | ACLU-RDI 361

Transcript of the testimony of Richard Armitage, Paul Wolfowitz, and Lt. Gen. Walter Sharp (director of strategic plans and policy for the Joint Chiefs of Staff) in regard to plans for the Iraq transfer of sovereignty.

Dec. 31, 2004
Interview (Transcript)
Richard Green Lugar, Richard Lee Armitage, Paul Wolfowitz, Walter L. Sharp, John Dimitri Negroponte, Marc Grossman, L. Paul Bremer, John P. Abizaid, Ricardo Sanchez, David Kay, Charles Timothy Hagel, Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Mark Traecey Patrick Kimmitt, Lincoln Davenport Chafee, Condoleeza Rice, Barbara Levy Boxer , Donald H. Rumsfeld, Samuel Dale Brownback, Paul Spyros Sarbanes, Walter L. Sharp, David Petraeus, Thomas F. Metz, George V. Voinovich, Christopher John Dodd, Norman Bertram Coleman, Jr., Richard B. Myers, Bill Nelson, John D. Rockefeller, IV, Jon Stevens Corzine
Physical assault, Sexual, General, Other Humiliation, Sexual
May 18, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 479
Email concerns updated Military police operations for handling detainees in the wake of the Abu Ghraib prison abuse.
Mar. 23, 2005
Email
David D. McKiernan
May 18, 2004 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 667
Sworn statement of sergeant at Abu Ghraib including a description of his surprise that "certain approaches" were acceptable. He witnessed a detainee left in cold temperatures without clothes or a blanket and with untreated wounds. The sergeant ...
Mar. 03, 2005
Interview (Transcript)
Thomas Pappas, Barbara G. Fast, Ricardo Sanchez
Use of water, Other, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Temperature, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Forced grooming, Other
May 18, 2004 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 839
Interviewee was assigned to AG in mid-October 2003 as a member of the Fusion Analysis Cell; interviewee had Top Secret Clearances. Recalled an incident occurring in the hard site, where the MPs had two detainees in the middle of the cell, naked, ...
Mar. 03, 2005
Interview (Transcript)
Steven L. Jordan
Physical assault, General, Stress positions, Use of phobias, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Forced physical training, Other
May 18, 2004 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 888

A statement by an individual stationed at Abu Ghraib as an individual augmentee on or about October 16, 2003. The individual stated that at Abu Ghraib, "there was no oversight of most of the interrogations being conducted as everyone was ...

Mar. 03, 2005
Interview (Statement)
Thomas Pappas
Physical assault, General, Use of phobias, Isolation, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Religious