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 06, 2004 | ACLU-RDI 5062
This article describes the Justice Department's investigation into the deaths of three detainees in U.S. custody, two in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. The investigation focused on the role of CIA officers and contract employers in the deaths. As ...
Mar. 15, 2013
Other
Pat Roberts, Antonio Taguba
Abed Hamed Mowhoush
Physical assault, General
May 05, 2004 | ACLU-RDI 5061
This article describes criminal investigations into detainee deaths and assaults in Iraq and Afghanistan in the aftermath of the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal. It documents Condoleeza Rice's public "apolog[y] to the Arab world," and Donald ...
Other
Condoleeza Rice, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Richard B. Myers, John McCain, Thomas Andrew Daschle, Tom DeLay, William Frist, Donald J. Ryder, Antonio Taguba, Peter Pace, George W. Casey, Jr.
Physical assault, Threat, Nudity, Other
Oct. 15, 2003 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 5060
Chain of CIA emails organizing a meeting to be held on October 20, 2003 at 11:00 a.m.
May 05, 2004 | ACLU-RDI 5059
This article details "the deaths of at least 10 prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan" and indicates that U.S. officials considered "a possible criminal investigation of a [CIA] officer in the death of one prisoner." It also describes Congressional ...
Other
Donald H. Rumsfeld, John McCain
May 07, 2003 | WH | CIA | ACLU-RDI 5058
Press release from the White House affirming the Bush administration's belief in the Geneva Convention, but noting that Taliban detainees are not entitled to POW status and that members of al-Qaeda are not covered by the Convention.
Other
George W. Bush, Ari Fleischer
May 05, 2004 | ACLU-RDI 5057
This article describes the government's criminal investigations into the abuse of prisoners in U.S. custody in Iraq and Afghanistan following the Abu Ghraib scandal. The report describes ongoing investigations by the CIA's Inspector General and ...
Mar. 15, 2013
Other
George W. Bush, Antonio Taguba, Janis Leigh Karpinski, Abdul Basat Al-Turki, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Condoleeza Rice, John Warner, Edward M. Kennedy, Carl Levin, Geoffrey D. Miller
Abed Hamed Mowhoush
May 05, 2004 | ACLU-RDI 5056
This May 5, 2004 transcript from ABC World News Tonight: ABC TV reports on the CIA's investigation into the death of "Mon Adel Al-Jamadi" and "Abed Amid Mahoush" in Iraq as well as the death of a detainee in Afghanistan. It describes the Abu ...
Mar. 15, 2013
Other
Bob Baer
Manadel Al-Jamadi, Abed Hamed Mowhoush
Other
May 06, 2003 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 5055
CIA copy of an "Information Page" by the National Institute of Health on Cerebral Hypoxia, explained as a condition in which there is a decrease of oxygen supply to the brain, as can occur from drowning, strangling, choking, cardiac arrest, or ...
Apr. 07, 2003 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 5054
CIA copy of a news transcript for an April 2003 DOD briefing discussing DOD policies on the Geneva Conventions, enemy prisoners of war, and war crimes, especially in the context of the Iraqi conflict. The briefing was presented by Bryan Whitman, ...
Mar. 15, 2013
Other
Bryan Whitman, W. Hays Parks, Pierre-Richard Prosper
Physical assault, Sexual
May 04, 2004 | ACLU-RDI 5053

This article describes the CIA Inspector General's investigation into the death of three prisoners in U.S. custody in Iraq and Afghanistan. The article names two of the three of the prisoners, Mandadel Al-Jamadi and Abid Hamid Mowhoush.

Other
Bob Baer, Jack Cloonan
Manadel Al-Jamadi, Abed Hamed Mowhoush
Jan. 20, 2004 | ACLU-RDI 5052
This article describes inquires by the Army's Criminal Investigation Division and the Pentagon into the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal in Iraq.
Mar. 15, 2013
Other
Ricardo Sanchez, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Donald J. Ryder
Other
CIA | ACLU-RDI 5051
Likely a cover sheet for CIA documents from, or relating to, incidents in 2003.
Mar. 04, 2004 | DIA | ACLU-RDI 5050

A redacted March 4, 2004 non-legal memo from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) to the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD). This paper "responds to an OSD request" seeking to enumerate the implications of releasing ...

Mar. 15, 2013
Non-legal Memo
Richard Butler
Amir Hamudi Hasan Al-Sadi
| ACLU-RDI 5049
A redacted PowerPoint presentation from the Defense Intelligence Agency's Middle East and South Asia Office. The presentation slides describe the DIA's Insurgency Database and criteria for the inclusion of Iraqi regime leaders and/or insurgents ...
Mar. 21, 2004 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 5048
An OLC memo analyzing the Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in the Time of War ("GC"). The memo provides three opinions. Part I concludes that "GC governs the occupation of Iraq." Part II discusses GC's general ...
Mar. 15, 2013
Legal Memo
Jack Goldsmith
Scott Muller
William J. Haynes, II, Scott W. Muller, Jack L. Goldsmith, Alberto R. Gonzales
May 24, 2004 | ACLU-RDI 5047

This May 24, 2004 Newsweek article discusses the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal. It describes legal justifications for the Bush administration's interrogation program.

Mar. 15, 2013
Other
George W. Bush, Jane Harman, Lindsey Graham, Larry DiRita, Donald H. Rumsfeld, John Ashcroft, Cofer Black, Colin L. Powell, John C. Yoo, William Howard Taft, IV, Alberto R. Gonzales, Rick Baccus, Richard B. Myers, William J. Haynes, II, Geoffrey D. Miller, Stephen A. Cambone, William G. Boykin, Janis Leigh Karpinski, Paul Wayne Bergrin, Ricardo Sanchez
Physical assault
May 08, 2004 | ACLU-RDI 5046
In this letter dated May 6, 2004, Human Rights Watch "calls, first, for the U.S. government to reveal all places of detention where security or terrorist suspects are being held on whatever grounds, and second, for it to permit independent, ...
Mar. 15, 2013
Letter
Kenneth Roth
Donald Rumsfeld
Donald H. Rumsfeld, George J. Tenet
Sept. 29, 2003 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 5045
CIA copy of Associated Press article describing U.S. military efforts to stem the flow of unauthorized individuals and weapons into Iraq from Syria.
Mar. 15, 2013
Other
David Teeples, L. Paul Bremer, Chris Alfeiri
May 18, 2004 | ACLU-RDI 5044

This article describes the investigation into the death of an unidentified Iraqi detainee at the Abu Ghraib prison. A photograph of the detainee's body, which the LA Times calls one of "the most indelible images yet made public," ...

Mar. 15, 2013
Other
Javal Sean Davis, Jason A. Kenner, Bruce Brown, Lynndie Rana England, Charles A. Graner, Jr., Megan M. Ambuhl, Ivan L. Frederick, II, Jeremy C. Sivits, Hydrue S. Joyner, William A. Cathcart
Nudity, Other Humiliation
Nov. 28, 2003 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 5043
CIA copy of a Los Angeles Times article reporting the death of former Iraqi general Major General Abed Hamed Mowhoush.
Mar. 15, 2013
Other
Abed Hamed Mowhoush
EIT, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling
Dec. 04, 2003 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 5042
CIA-run LexisNexis search results for "Iraq War News" and "mowhoush." Results include twelve published news articles relating to the death of Iraqi General Abed Hamed Mowhoush while in U.S. custody and under U.S. interrogation.
Mar. 15, 2013
Other
L. Paul Bremer
Abed Hamed Mowhoush
EIT, Hooding/Goggling, Environmental manipulation
Nov. 21, 2003 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 5041
CIA copy of London Times article describing an invasion of U.S. troops into three Iraqi towns close to the Syrian border in an effort to flush out foreign Mujahidin fighters.
Mar. 15, 2013
Other
David Teeples, Joe Busch
Nov. 18, 2003 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 5040
Partially redacted CIA memo describing a meeting held to discuss the autopsy of Iraqi detainee Manadel al-Jamadi. The document notes that al-Jamadi's right eye was blackened, that there were bruises over both of his temporal regions, that there ...
Mar. 15, 2013
Non-legal Memo
Manadel Al-Jamadi
Physical assault, General
CIA | ACLU-RDI 5039
CIA background materials on Abu Ghraib, likely for presentation to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Table of contents includes "NE Background Summary," "DDO Talking Points and ...
Non-legal Memo
Manadel Al-Jamadi, Abed Hamed Mowhoush
CIA | ACLU-RDI 5038
Summary of CIA activities at the Abu Ghraib prison. A handwritten note marks the summary as "D/N Talking Points." Some of the bulleted paragraphs are redacted.
Mar. 15, 2013
Non-legal Memo
Manadel Al-Jamadi, Abed Hamed Mowhoush
CIA | ACLU-RDI 5037
CIA copies of various Fourth Geneva Convention articles, including Article 147 (Grave Breaches), Article 49 (Deportations, Transfers, and Evacuations), Article 5 (Derogations), Article 68 (Penal Legislation), Article 78 (Security Measures, ...
CIA | ACLU-RDI 5036
CIA copy of 18 U.S.C. 2441: War Crimes. Document includes legislative history and analysis of the section.
CIA | ACLU-RDI 5035
CIA copy of excerpt from "Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers," recounting a series of murders carried out for the purpose of selling corpses as cadavers.
CIA | ACLU-RDI 5034
CIA presentation entitled "Human Rights: Background & Current Practices." The presentation gives a brief historical overview of human rights and reviews important international organizations that protect human rights.
Nov. 29, 2002 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 5033
Background paper on redacted subject sent by Stanley M. Moskowitz, Director of Congressional Affairs at the CIA. Cover letters identify recipients of paper as congressional staffers Michael W. Sheehy, Tim Sample, Al Cumming, and Bill Duhnke, and ...
Mar. 15, 2013
Non-legal Memo, Letter
Stanley M. Moskowitz
Bill Dunkhe | Jerry Lewis | Ted Stevens | Michael W. Sheehy | Tim Sample | Al Cumming | Daniel K. Inouye
Stanley M. Moskowitz, Michael W. Sheehy, Tim Sample, Al Cumming, Bill Duhnke, Jerry Lewis, Daniel K. Inouye, Ted Stevens
May 04, 2004 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 5032
CIA maps of Iraq printed from the Internet.
May 17, 2005 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 5031
CIA printout of 10 U.S.C 918, Art. 118, describing the military definition of, and punishments for, murder.
May 17, 2005 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 5030
CIA printout of 10 U.S.C 892, Art. 92, describing punitive military justice for armed forces personnel accused of failing to obey orders or regulations.
Mar. 01, 2005 | CIA-OIG | ACLU-RDI 5029

CIA email describing an unidentified official's visit to the Office of the Inspector General to review a draft Report of Investigation. 

Nov. 08, 2005 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 5028

A cable sent from Jose Rodriguez, the CIA's Deputy Director for Operations, to a CIA "black site" authorizing the destruction of 92 videotapes of interrogations that took place in 2002.

Apr. 15, 2010
Cable
Jose A. Rodriguez, Jr.
Jose A. Rodriguez, Jr.
June 07, 2011 | ACLU-RDI 5027

An autopsy report for Haji Naseem (aka Inayatullah), who died in Guantanamo Bay on May 18, 2011. This Army autopsy report concluded that his death was a suicide.

Feb. 28, 2013
Medical (Autopsy, Death Certificate)
Haji Naseem
Feb. 23, 2011 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 5026

 An autopsy report for Awal Gul, who died in Guantanamo Bay on February 1, 2011. This Army autopsy report concluded that his death was natural and caused by atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

Feb. 28, 2013
Medical (Autopsy, Death Certificate)
Awal Gul
Jan. 05, 2010 | OPR | ACLU-RDI 5025

 [Add description]

Feb. 19, 2010
Oversight Report
David Margolis
Mar. 04, 2009 | OPR | ACLU-RDI 5024

 [Add description and leave paragraph below.]

This is the second draft of the OPR's report. You can view the final report by selecting the appropriate related link to the right.
 

Dec. 22, 2008 | OPR | ACLU-RDI 5023

 [Add description and leave in paragraph below.]

This is the first draft of the OPR's report. You can view the final report by selecting the appropriate related link to the right.

July 29, 2009 | OPR | ACLU-RDI 5022

The DOJ's Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) released this report investigating whether Department of Justice attorneys violated their ethical obligations in issuing several memoranda authorizing the use of Enhanced Interrogation ...

July 19, 2010
Oversight Report
Frank Wolf, Larry Thompson, Ted Ullyot, George J. Tenet, Steven G. Bradbury, Jay S. Bybee, John C. Yoo, Patrick Leahy, David S. Addington, John D. Ashcroft, John B. Bellinger, III, David Brant, Michael Chertoff, Adam Ciongoli, Paul Clement, James B. Comey, Alice Fisher, Timothy E. Flanigan, Ari Fleischer, Jack L. Goldsmith, Alberto R. Gonzales, Stephen Hadley, William J. Haynes, II, John L. Helgerson, H. Marshall Jarrett, Patrick Leahy, Daniel B. Levin, John McCain, John McLaughlin, Paul McNulty, Harriet Miers, Alberto Mora, Steven J. Morello, Scott W. Muller, Robert S. Mueller, Patrick Philbin, Colin L. Powell, Condoleeza Rice, John A. Rizzo, Chuck Rosenberg, Donald H. Rumsfeld, George W. Bush, Michael Mukasey, Mark Filip, Barack H. Obama, David Margolis, Michael Gelles, Robert J. Delahunty, Diane E. Beaver, Thomas J. Romig, David Leitch, John B. Wiegmann, Alan Kreczko, Christopher Schroeder
Abu Zubaydah, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Mohammed al Qahtani, Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi
EIT, SERE, Use of water, Waterboarding, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Attention grasp, Facial hold, Walling, Threat, Assault/death, Family/others, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Temperature, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Forced grooming, Manipulation of interrogator’s identity, Other
July 29, 2009 | OPR | ACLU-RDI 5021

 [Add description, but leave in the paragraph below.]

Five months after releasing this report to the ACLU, the government released slightly less redacted versions of 7 pages in the report.  You can view those 7 pages, ...

Sept. 23, 2009 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 5020

This report concerns allegations that mind-altering drugs were administered to facilitate the interrogation of detainees under DOD control between September 2001 and April 2008. The report concluded that it could not substantiate the claim ...

June 28, 2012
Oversight Report
Patricia A. Brannin
Donald H. Rumsfeld, Peter H. Daly, William Melendez, Jay W. Hood, David M. Edgington, Charles A. Blanchard, Thomas W. Cunningham, James T. Faust, Ronald L. Burgess, Jr., Jay Alan Liotta, Laurence K. Burgess
Jose Padilla
Physical assault, General, Stress positions, Sleep deprivation, Other
July 07, 2004 | DON | ACLU-RDI 5019

This memo by Alberto Mora, General Counsel of the Navy, gives the chronology of his opposition (and the opposition of other members of the Navy) to the harsh interrogation techniques authorized for use at Guantanamo Bay by Secretary of Defense ...

Feb. 27, 2006
Legal Memo
Alberto Mora
Albert T. Church
Alberto Mora, Albert T. Church, Donald H. Rumsfeld, William J. Haynes, II, Mary Walker, Thomas F. Kranz, William R. Molzahn, Charlotte O. Wise, Richard W. Schieke, Michael F. Lohr, Kevin M. Sandkuhler, Peter Murphy, David Brant, Michael Gelles, Steven J. Morello, Thomas W. Taylor, Michael E. Dunlavey , Diane E. Beaver, Gordon R. England, William J. Fallon, Kevin P. Green, Susan M. Livingstone, George W. Bush, Jaymie Durnan, Paul Wolfowitz, Jane Dalton, Daniel Dell'Orto, John C. Yoo, Patrick Leahy, Daniel J. Ramos, James T. Hill, Geoffrey D. Miller
Physical assault, General, Stress positions, Use of phobias, Isolation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Hooding/Goggling, Other Humiliation, Sexual
Mar. 14, 2003 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 5018

This legal memo from the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) of the Justice Department to the Department of Defense analyzes the legal standards governing military interrogations of "alien unlawful combatans" held outside the United ...

Apr. 01, 2008
Legal Memo
John C. Yoo
William J. Haynes, II
John C. Yoo, William J. Haynes, II, Timothy E. Flanigan, Alberto R. Gonzales, Patrick Philbin, Jay S. Bybee, Daniel J. Bryant, Robert J. Delahunty, Ari Fleischer, William Howard Taft, IV, John B. Bellinger, III, James C. Ho, Daniel Dell'Orto
Nov. 30, 2004 | NCIS | DOJ | ACLU-RDI 5017

A document production cover letter from the DOJ and the Navy Criminal Investigative Service to the ACLU, discussing the release of approximately 300 pages of documents in response to the ACLU's FOIA request.

Nov. 30, 2004
Letter, Judicial
Sean H. Lane
Sean H. Lane, Peter M. Skinner, David N. Kelley, N.M. Brock
Oct. 30, 2009 | DOJ-OIG | ACLU-RDI 5015

This document is the result of a review conducted by the Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) regarding the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) involvement in and observations of detainee interrogations in ...

Oct. 30, 2009
Oversight Report
Antonio Taguba, George R. Fay, Michael Chertoff, Albert T. Church, John D. Ashcroft, Larry Thompson, James R. Schlesinger, Robert S. Mueller, Arthur M. Cummings, II, Michael E. Dunlavey
Abu Zubaydah, Mohammed al Qahtani, Moazzam Begg, Saleh Mukleif Saleh, Mohamedou Ould Slahi , Mohammed El Gharani, Muhammad al Awfi, Ramzi Bin al Shibh
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding, Water dousing, Physical assault, General, Face slap or insult slap, Walling, Sexual, Threat, Assault/death, Rendition, Family/others, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Temperature, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Religious, Forced grooming, Forced physical training, Manipulation of interrogator’s identity
Dec. 17, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 5014

Letter from Margaret P. Grafeld, DOS to Amrit Singh, ACLU re: the ACLU's FOIA Request. The letter states that the document production requested is being complied with in some parts and denied or withheld in part.

Dec. 17, 2004
Letter, Judicial
Margaret P. Grafeld
Margaret P. Grafeld
Dec. 17, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 5013

Letter from Margaret P. Grafeld, DOS to Amrit Singh, ACLU re: the ACLU's FOIA Request. The letter states that the document production requested is being complied with in some parts and denied or withheld in part.

Dec. 17, 2004
Letter, Judicial
Margaret P. Grafeld
Margaret P. Grafeld
Dec. 02, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 5012

Letter from Margaret P. Grafeld, DOS to Amrit Singh, ACLU re: the ACLU's FOIA Request. The letter states that the document production requested is being complied with in some parts and denied or withheld in part.

Dec. 02, 2004
Letter, Judicial
Margaret P. Grafeld
Margaret P. Grafeld