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
Mar. 24, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4755
DOS Cable regarding a letter from Special Rapporteur on Torture, Theo van Boven, to Ambassador Bremen regarding the detention of four individuals in Basra, Iraq. The letter reports that the detainees are being held incommunicado by the UK ...
Nov. 23, 2004
Cable
Colin L. Powell
L. Paul Bremer, Colin L. Powell, Thomas A. Johnson
May 05, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4987
DOS Press Release asking if the ICRC has access to detainees in Iraq, including detainees at Abu Ghraib. The answer is yes.
Nov. 23, 2004
Other
Jonathan S. Carpenter, P. Michael McKinley, Frank E. Schmelzer
Nov. 10, 2001 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4754
DOS cover letter for six page document(s) discussing Afghanistan detention of captured persons.
Nov. 23, 2004
Letter
Maura Harty
Maura A. Harty, Frank E. Schmelzer
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
| ACLU-RDI 3666

Interview of Colin L. Powell regarding the U.S. decision to deny detainees at Guantanamo prisoner of war status. Mr. Powell explains the U.S. government's rationale and explains that by definition detained Taliban and Al-Qaida personnel are ...

Dec. 02, 2004
Interview (Questionnaire)
Colin L. Powell, Sharon E. Ahmad
Nov. 10, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3667
This is a letter from U.S. representative in the UK as the Director of United Kingdom, Benelux, and Ireland Affairs to Ms. Helen Clark, MP, UK House of Commons thanking her for her recent letter and concerns over the detainment and treatment of ...
Dec. 02, 2004
Letter
Alexander Karagiannis
Helen Clark
Alexander Karagiannis
DOS | ACLU-RDI 3668
This letter is from Paula J. Dobriansky, State Department Under Secretary for Global Affairs to Sen. Bingaman (D-NM) responding to the Senator’s recent letter raising concerns over an article in the Washington Post concerning allegations of ...
Dec. 02, 2004
Letter
Paula Dobriansky
Jeff Bingaman | Charles E. Grassley
Paula J. Dobriansky, Jesse Francis Bingaman, Jr., Charles E. Grassley
Nov. 16, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3669
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; ...
Nov. 16, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3670
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 ...
Jan. 15, 2002 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 3671
State Department talking points memo on addressing the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo. The memo poses potential questions and answers to be given in response.
Dec. 02, 2004
Non-legal Memo
David A. Kaye, Evan T. Bloom