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 (31)

 A CRS report analyzing the law relating to the detention of two American citizens (Yaser Hamdi and Jose Padilla) as alleged "enemy combatants."

This Letter from Senator Jeff Bingaman, (D-NM) is an inquiry to State Department Under Secretary for Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky concerning a Washington Post article published on December 26, 2002 which described U.S. interrogation methods ...
Dec. 02, 2004
Letter
Jeff Bingaman
Paula Dobriansky
Jesse Francis Bingaman, Jr., Paula J. Dobriansky
This document is a request by Rep. Ike Skelton to the State Department Subject: Requesting when the Department was advised of the February 2004 report of the International Committee of the Red Cross on the mistreatment of the detainees in Iraq
Dec. 02, 2004
Non-legal Memo
Ike Skelton
Isaac Newton Skelton IV
Congressional Correspondence Clearance: Senator Bingaman requesting a copy of a Washington Post article dated December 26, 2002 concerning methods used by the U.S. to obtain information from persons it has detained.
Dec. 02, 2004
Other
Jeff Bingaman
Jesse Francis Bingaman, Jr.
This State department fax is a forwarding of a letter Sen. Kerry received from a constituent containing allegations of mistreatment of Guantanamo detainees. Parts of document unreadable.
Dec. 30, 2004
Letter
John Kerry
Paul V. Kelly
John Forbes Kerry, Paul V. Kelly
The hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee met on May 18, 2004 to continue their ongoing oversight of American policy toward Iraq. The hearing was held in anticipation of the U.S. handing over sovereignty to the Iraqi government six ...
Letter from Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) requesting Sec. State Powell Dept's release several internal Administration documents regarding the treatment of enemy prisoners and combatants.
Oct. 15, 2004
Letter
Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
Colin L. Powell
Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Colin L. Powell
Letter from Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) requesting Sec. of State Powell to have the State Department provide the Committee on Foreign Relations with copies of documents, and any other legal memoranda prepared after September 11, 2001, that interpret ...
Oct. 15, 2004
Letter
Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
Colin L. Powell
Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Colin L. Powell
Senator John Kerry's letter to Paul V. Kelly of the State Department, forwarding a letter sent to Sen. Kerry by Dr. Michael Grodin of the Boston Center for Refugee Health & Human Rights requesting an immediate investigation into allegations to ...
Oct. 15, 2004
Letter
John Kerry
Paul V. Kelly
John Forbes Kerry, Paul V. Kelly

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