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 (62)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
June 20, 2004 | DON | ACLU-RDI 2539
Navy Chief Petty Officer, Gunners Mate, discusses in-processing and handling of detainees. States that taped up goggles are put on detainees. Other units use hoods. States, "I've never seen anybody get kicked, punched, or sexually abused. Guys ...
June 30, 2006
Interview (Statement)
Stress positions, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling
Apr. 07, 2004 | DON | ACLU-RDI 2609
Records of JAGMAN investigation Preliminary Inquiry into the death of Farhad Mohamed Ali. Includes a summary of the finings and a series of the emails regarding the status of the investigation, as well as CID records. Summary of findings states ...
June 30, 2006
Investigative File
Farhad Mohamed
June 03, 2004 | DON | ACLU-RDI 654
On April 16, 2004, members of Marine Corps stopped and detained three (3) men who were transferred to the Division Interrogation Facility (DIF). On April 26, 2004 the DIF released the trio to the custody of Task Force 6-26. They were then ...
June 28, 2006
Investigative File
James N. Mattis
Physical assault, General, Sexual
Apr. 30, 2004 | DON | ACLU-RDI 655
Marine Corps inquiry in to possible abuse of a detainee on April 13, 2004 at the Al Mahmudiya Forward Operating Base (FOB) in Iraq. Members of the guard force at the Detention Facility were accused of shocking a detainee using a power cord by ...
June 28, 2006
Non-legal Memo, Investigative File (AR 15-6)
James N. Mattis
James N. Mattis
Use of electricity
Sept. 22, 2004 | DON | ACLU-RDI 657
Two (2) suspects in the theft from the Iraqi National Guard (ING) Training Camp at Camp Junction City, allege being abused while in custody. Both suspects provided facts "proven to be false and established patterns of not providing the truth". ...
June 28, 2006
Investigative File
Richard F. Natonski
Richard F. Natonski
General, Use of electricity, Cramped confinement, Isolation, Light or sound, Physical assault, Environmental manipulation
May 14, 2004 | DON | ACLU-RDI 650
U.S. Marine Corps investigation into death of Awayed Wanas Jabar. Jabar was taken in to custody on April 17, 2004. He sustained a head injury in an escape attempt. A doctor examined him and said he was “OK”. A guard witnessed Jabar take his ...
May 15, 2006
Non-legal Memo, Investigative File
James N. Mattis
Walid Tawfiq Jabar
Stress positions, Other
Sept. 01, 2004 | DON | ACLU-RDI 651
On June 23, 2003 Marines detained four Iraqi men for looting. The men were searched, stripped of their clothes (except for their shoes and underwear), and then released. On June 28, 2003 fired upon and disabled a truck that attempted to speed ...
May 15, 2006
Non-legal Memo, Investigative File
Henry P. Osman
Henry P. Osman, William A. Navas, Jr
Physical assault, General, Nudity
Aug. 01, 2004 | DON | ACLU-RDI 652
An inquiry in to the abuse of a detainee taken in to custody after a raid on a residence by the U.S. Marine Corps 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marines (2/2). The captured Iraqi alleged that he was verbally and physically abused during the course of ...
May 15, 2006
Non-legal Memo, Investigative File
Physical assault, General, Other Humiliation
Sept. 24, 2004 | DON | ACLU-RDI 653
During a raid, jointly conducted by U.S. Marine Corps personnel with the 24th MEU (SOC) and Iraqi National Guards (INGs), a weapons cache was found. It was alleged that ING personnel slapped the owner of the home during an interrogation and shot ...
May 15, 2006
Investigative File
Physical assault, General, Threat, Assault/death
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