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 (60)

Address from Louise Arbour, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, to the Biennial Conference of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) in Berlin, Germany on August 27, 2004. The address discusses, generally, global terrorist attacks with ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Other
Louise Arbour
Frank E. Schmelzer , Sandra Day O'Connor
Yaser Esam Hamdi, Shafiq Rasul
Roundtable interview with Secretary of State, Colin L. Powell. On May 26. 2004, Mr. Powell answered a series of questions from journalists regarding allegations of detainee abuse in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay.
Press release from the ICRC discussing the Geneva Convention's policy on a state's mistreatment of detainees, prisoners of war and internees.
Dec. 30, 2004
Other
Frank E. Schmelzer
This DOS memo appears to be talking points for a John Dimitri Negroponte interview with Jim Lehrer on topics, including detainee abuse, detainee policy, and Saddam Hussein.
Dec. 30, 2004
Non-legal Memo
George W. Bush, Frank E. Schmelzer , John Dimitri Negroponte
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 ...
Press release discussing, generally, the U.S. government's goal towards disarmament and democracy in Iraq.
Dec. 30, 2004
Other
James B. Cunningham
James B. Cunningham, George W. Bush, Frank E. Schmelzer
DOS Memo confirming a meeting with the ICRC on June 06.
Nov. 23, 2004
Non-legal Memo
Frank E. Schmelzer , P. Michael McKinley, John Allen Buche, Nicholas M. Miscione, Douglas Hunter
DOS Cable-Action request for Kabul Embassy from Colin L. Powell requesting that the government provide access to the ICRC to visit all detainees under usual ICRC conditions.