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)

Statement from the Army regarding allegations of abuse at Abu Ghraib (two versions). Army as Executive Agent for Detainee Operations provided talking points regarding contract interrogator standards, interrogation training improvements, and Army ...
Dec. 31, 2004
Interview (Transcript)
Isaac Newton Skelton IV, Romie Leslie Brownlee, John Warner, Carl Levin
Physical assault, General
Transcript of the testimony of Donald Rumsfeld, Gen. Richard Myers (chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff), Les Brownlee (Acting Sec. of the Army), Gen. Peter Shoomaker (Army Chief of Staff), and Lt. Gen. Lance Smith (U.S. Central Command Dep. ...
Dec. 31, 2004
Interview (Transcript)
Duncan Lee Hunter, Isaac Newton Skelton IV, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Joseph M. Darby, Antonio Taguba, Richard B. Myers, Romie Leslie Brownlee, Mark Traecey Patrick Kimmitt, John P. Abizaid, Geoffrey D. Miller, Donald J. Ryder, Ricardo Sanchez, David D. McKiernan, Lance L. Smith, Peter Schoomaker, Hugh James Saxton, Paul Mikolashek, Lance L. Smith, Janis Leigh Karpinski, John McKee Spratt, Jr., William McClellan Thornberry, Lane Allen Evans, Wayne Curtis Weldon, Lamar Seeligson Smith, Hugh James Saxton, John M. McHugh, Terry Everett, Roscoe G. Bartlett, Howard P. McKeon, John N. Hostlettler, Walter B. Jones, Jim Ryun, Jim Gibbons, Robin Hayes, Heather Wilson, Ken Calvert, Robert Ruhl Simmons, Jo Ann Davis, Edward L. Schrock, W. Todd Akin, J. Randy Forbes, Jeff Miller, Joe Wilson, Frank L. Lobiondo, Tom Cole, Joseph E. Bradley, Robert William Bishop, Michael R. Turner, John Kline, Candice S. Miller, John Phillip Gingrey, Michael Dennis Rogers, Trent Franks, Randall Harold Cunningham, John McKee Spratt, Jr., Solomon Porfirio Ortiz, Gary Eugene Taylor, Neil Abercrombie, Martin Meehan, Silvestre Reyes, Victor F. Snyder, James Turner, David Adam Smith, Loretta Sanchez, Douglas Carmichael McIntyre II, Ciro Davis Rodriguez, Ellen O'Kane Tauscher, Robert A. Brady, Baron Paul Hill, John Barry Larson, Susan A. Davis, James R. Langevin, Steve Israel, Richard Ray Larsen, James Hayes Shofner Cooper , James Creel Marshall, Kendrick G. Meek, Madeleine Z. Bordallo, Rodney Alexander, Timothy John Ryan
General, Other Humiliation, Physical assault
Army Field Manual: Intelligence Interrogation (Chapters 5 - End). Also includes discussion of fear as an interrogation tool, but states that an interrogator's actions must not violate the Geneva Conventions.
Dec. 31, 2004
Other
Use of phobias
Manual outlining the effects of combat stress and assigning responsibility to officers and medical health personnel for controlling combat stress. Notes that killing or torturing enemy prisoners may be a manifestation of combat stress, but that ...
Manual guiding armed forces functioning at the operational level of war in concert with joint, multinational and/or interagency organizations. Outlines link between overall strategy/campaign and tactical operations, command structure (national & ...
General reference manual for Army personnel in execution of their duties. Guidance on resolving ethical dilemmas, and the ethical reasoning process.
Army Field Manual No. 3-06: FM 3-06 Urban Operations. Provides the Army soldier with guidance and understanding of the urban warfare environment and the proper manner to conduct themselves and participate in operations.
Army Field Manual Glossary. End of glossary/reference section of ARTEP 8-705-MTP. Pages may be missing.
Army Pamphlet: FM 27-10 THE LAW OF LAND WARFARE, December 1956 version.
Army training and evaluation program for the Combat Support Hospital. Chapters include: Unit Training, Training Matrix, Training Plans, Training Exercises, Training and Evaluation Exercises, and External Evaluation. Appendix B: Geneva ...

Investigation establishing that four enlisted men from 1/327th Infantry Regiment had committed burglary, aggravated assault, larceny, and other crimes in connection with the theft of 56,000 Iraqi Dinar from several Iraqi residences at night. ...

Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
Assault/death, Threat
Upon being processed in to Abu Ghraib prison, a 48 year-old Iraqi male detainee complained to the Prisoner Interview/Interrogation Team (PIT), that U.S. forces had punched him in the stomach while transporting him to the prison. The medical ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
Jacqueline J. Scott
Physical assault, General

Detainee alleged that U.S. forces captured him and took him to Dhyla Al Mokhadia Base, an Iraqi Civil Defense Corps location, where he was deprived of food and water for three days with his hands tied and eyes blindfolded.  He alleged ...

Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
John Peterson, Jacqueline J. Scott
Physical assault, General, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling
A Lieutenant Colonel admitted to issuing a death threat and firing his pistol next to the head of a detainee suspected of being part of a plot to assassinate U.S. troops, including the Lt. Col. This was supposedly done during an interrogation. ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID), Photograph
Physical assault, General, Threat, Assault/death

Two (2) soldiers from 1/9 Field Artillery entered two Iraqi civilian homes by force, stole two brief cases containing valuables and cash from one home, stole jewlery from the other home, pointed weapons at the families while searching the ...

Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
Assault/death, Other, Threat
CID Investigation in to allegations that a Non-Commissioned Officer and soldier from 19th Quartermaster( QM) Company, 240th QM Battalion, pushed an Iraqi civilian into the back of their truck, to an isolated area, robbed him of his watch and ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID), Photograph
Jacqueline J. Scott, Thom Jones, Nelson van Eck
Physical assault, General

On 1/18/04, a detainee gave a statement about abuse he had suffered at Abu Ghraib and also stated that he had witnessed a translator forcibly sodomizing a male juvenile detainee while a female U.S. soldier observed and took pictures. (This ...

Approximately 73-year-old Iraqi woman reported that she had been subjected to assault and sexual abuse, including being sodomized with a stick and touched in private areas; that she was forced to "swim" in water thrown on ...

Two NCOs and two enlisted men from B Company, 1/36th Infantry Regiment, 1st Armored Division severely assaulted several detained youths while the detainees' heads were covered with sandbags and their hands restrained with flexi-cuffs. The ...

Investigation into the death of Hamza Hassad Tawfeek Najm Byaty. Mr. Byaty had been detained at Baghdad International Airport and was being transported in a bus when he became short of breath, hypotensive, and tachycardic. An IV briefly ...

Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
John Peterson
Hamza Hassad Tawfeek Najm Byaty, Zaid Muhammed Tariq, Taleb Ehad Kazen, Abed Mohammed Najem, Dahm Spah

A CID report concerning a detainee's allegation that a U.S. soldier repeatedly punched him in the stomach and that Kurds kicked him in the legs during interrogation in custody at the Baghdad International Airport. The detainee also stated that ...

Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
John Peterson, Jacqueline J. Scott
Physical assault, General, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling

Investigation into abuse allegations by two detainees. One detainee stated that he was arrested by U.S. forces on 4/23/04, and then taken to a house near Adhamiya Palace where he was held for 15-16 days, punched in the face and ribs until he ...

Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
Jacqueline J. Scott, John Peterson
Physical assault, Sexual, General, Use of electricity, Dietary manipulation, Other Humiliation, Sexual

Iraqi civilian reported that an NCO from the 1/325th Infantry Battalion stole $2,650 from the trunk of his car after stopping him at a checkpoint on June 4, 2003. The soldier denied the allegation. The investigation did not develop any ...

Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
Jacqueline J. Scott, Thom Jones
Other

On November 14, 2003, a soldier provided a sworn statement saying that while he was deployed to Iraq, he "saw what I think were war crimes.... In my mind, my chain of command did nothing to stop these war crimes, and allowed them to ...

Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID), Photograph
Physical assault, General, Stress positions, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling, Other

Investigation found probable cause to believe that the commander and three other members of Operational Detachment-Alpha 343, 3rd Special Forces Group, had committed the offenses of murder and conspiracy when they lured Mohamed Sayari, an ...

Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID), Photograph
Jacqueline J. Scott, Thom Jones
Mohammed Sayari

Investigation established probable cause to believe that a soldier from C Co., 2/8th Inf. Bn., 4ID stole money from an Iraqi civilian at a checkpoint, and threatened the civilian with his rifle when he refused to leave without his money. The ...

Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
Jacqueline J. Scott
Threat, Assault/death

Juvenile detainee in Camp Bucca, Iraq stated that a guard from the 320th Military Police (MP) Battalion had twisted his arm while removing a piece of fruit from his hand. (The guard had accused him of stealing the fruit.) The detainee's elbow ...

Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
Physical assault, General

Detainee alleged that he was captured in mid-April, 2004 at his house in Ammaria (Al Amiryah), Iraq, held at a U.S. facility in Ammaria, then transferred to Baghdad Airport and, finally, Abu Ghraib. The detainee alleged that, at Ammaria, two ...

Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
Jacqueline J. Scott, John Peterson
Physical assault, General, Threat, Assault/death, Other Humiliation

A review of an Military Police (MP) investigation revealed that nine (9) members of Howitzer Battery, 2/3 Armored Cavalry Regiment that may have been involved in a criminal conspiracy to rob Iraqi citizens of currency during Traffic Control ...

Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
Jacqueline J. Scott

Investigation into report by the senior Counterintelligence Technician, 1st Brigade Combat Team, enclosing sworn statements of two detainees concerning abuse by members of the 2nd Squadron, 5th Cavalry. The detainees' sworn statements are not ...

Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
Jacqueline J. Scott
Physical assault, General, Threat, Assault/death

CID Headquarters requested that CID in Iraq initiate an investigation based on a May 11, 2004 Los Angeles Times article by Tracy Wilkinson indicating that one female detainee was raped and another was forced to disrobe in front of male guards. ...

Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
Jacqueline J. Scott
Noor Abdul Kareem
Physical assault, Sexual, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual

An investigation into a detainee's allegation that he was "tortured" at a U.S. facility in Mosul in March 2004. Detainee indicated that after being arrested but before arriving at the facility, his captors -- American men in civilian ...

Investigation initiated on the basis of a report by a serviceman's wife that he had a photograph of himself pointing a gun at the head of a bound and hooded detainee. When interviewed, the soldier explained that he was following orders and ...

Detainee alleged that he was arrested by U.S. forces and placed in a hole in the ground with other detainees at an unknown location in Samara, Iraq for about three days, then threatened with death and taken to a room where he was placed on a box ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
John Peterson, Jacqueline J. Scott
Use of water, Other, Physical assault, General, Threat, Assault/death, Use of phobias, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Forced grooming, Other
Army commenced an investigation prompted by "allegations documented in an excerpt from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on the Treatment by the Coalition Forces of Prisoners of War and Other Protected Persons by the Geneva ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
Jacqueline J. Scott
Use of water, Other, Physical assault, General, Stress positions, Sleep deprivation, Environmental manipulation, Temperature, Nudity
Investigation into two detainees' allegation that they had been assaulted by U.S. forces while being transported from Camp Cuervo to Abu Ghraib. One detainee reported that the soldier who assaulted him said "It's all because of you mother ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID), Photograph
Jacqueline J. Scott, John Peterson
Physical assault, General
Investigation into allegation by detainee that a US soldier kicked him in the back of the legs, back, and stomach while he was at a detention camp at Mahmodia, Baghdad. The detainee also reported he was hooded with a sandbag, handcuffed him with ...
Report of investigation of detainee’s allegation that a male U.S. soldier had slapped him across the face, causing him to bleed from the nose or the mouth and pushing him into concertina wire at the base of a chain link fence, causing the ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID), Photograph
Jacqueline J. Scott, John Peterson
Physical assault, General
Investigation initiated after Military Police (MP) sent memo to CID re two detainees who related physical abuse in two separate instances: one by two unidentified Iraqi National Guard (ING) soldiers and two unknown U.S. soldiers, and the second ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
Jacqueline J. Scott, John Peterson
Physical assault, General
CID Report of investigation into detainee's allegation that he was Hooded, roughly handled and choked by a U.S. soldier after being captured in his home. The interrogation reports (Secret) did reveal any allegations of abuse, and the detainee ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
Jacqueline J. Scott, John Peterson
Use of water, Other, Physical assault, General, Stress positions, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling
CID Report of investigation into detainee's allegation that, as 2 U.S. soldiers and an interpreter entered and searched his home, a third U.S. soldier walked in and struck him in the mouth with the butt of his rifle. Medical record states ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
Jacqueline J. Scott, John Peterson
Physical assault, General
CID Report of investigation initiated by Secretary of Defense on basis of “a photograph suspected to depict U.S. Army personnel abusing an Iraqi detainee.” The photograph, taken with a digital camera and found on a government computer, depicts ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
Nelson van Eck, Jacqueline J. Scott
Stress positions, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling
Investigation prompted by NYT article containing victim's allegations of torture and abuse during detention in Abu Ghraib from November 29 through December 31, 2003. Investigation concludes there is not “sufficient evidence to prove or disprove ...
CID Report of investigation into detainee's allegations of abuse while in U.S. custody at Mosul Airport, Iraq, over three day period. The detainee claimed to have sustained a bruise to his left shoulder and scratched during his capture. Once in ...
First 18 pages of CID Report are missing; details are indiscernible. This document contains hand-written confessions, written in English, regarding IED attacks against U.S. soldiers, and one page out of a three page statement by a U.S. officer, ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
Jacqueline J. Scott, John Peterson
Investigation requested by CID Chief of Investigative Operations Division after Washington Post article on June 15, 2004 reporting the death of Mr Sajid Kadhim Bori Al-Bawi while in the custody of U.S forces. The 15-6 investigation pertaining to ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
Jacqueline J. Scott
Sajid Kadhim Bori al-Bawi
Physical assault, General
Investigation of assault re-opened. Initial investigation commenced when a Master Sergeant with the 418th Military Police (MP) Detachment located at Camp Bucca, Iraq notified CID that he observed a soldier strike the detainee with an open hand to ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
Jacqueline J. Scott, John Peterson
Physical assault, General, Use of electricity
CID Report of investigation into death of Karim Masnadane, ISN/NDRS# 115872, at Camp Ganci, Abu Ghraib, on or about April 6, 2004. A previous CID Report (00110-04-CID789, included in this document) relates the deaths of nine detainees at Abu ...
CID Report of investigation regarding alleged abuse of detainee at unknown detention facility in Tikrit, Iraq. Detainee picked up by Iraqi Police on or about April 15, 2004. He was interviewed with the assistance of an interpreter on May 5, ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
John Peterson
Physical assault, General, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Sleep deprivation, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity