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 (33)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
June 25, 2004 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 2204
Email includes notes from a May 7, 2004 Senate Armed Services Committee, which summarizes the incidents which led to the death of Iraqi Major General and detainee Abed Hamed Mowhoush.
Feb. 15, 2006
Email
John McCain, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Richard B. Myers, Romie Leslie Brownlee, Peter Schoomaker, Bradley T. Smith
Abed Hamed Mowhoush
Physical assault, General, Stress positions, Other
June 15, 2004 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 2175
Email discusses six hot button issues [redacted] found in a Captain's report that is written in response to Major General Antonio Taguba's report. Also, the Captain's report comments on omissions made by MG Taguba in his report, omissions the ...
Feb. 15, 2006
Email
Donald J. Ryder
Antonio Taguba, Donald J. Ryder, Walter Wojdakowski, Janis Leigh Karpinski
Other
May 22, 2004 | FBI | ACLU-RDI 3106
These emails are to clarify an Electronic Communication (EC) sent by the FBI's Office of the General Counsel to field agents informing them that they must report incidents of abuse that they know of or become aware of. The initial email requests ...
Dec. 15, 2004
Email
Gary M. Bald | M. Chris Briese | Valerie E. Caproni | Thomas J. Harrington | Frankie Battle | Arthur M. Cummings, II
Gary M. Bald, Valerie E. Caproni, Arthur M. Cummings, II, Frankie Battle, Thomas J. Harrington, M. Chris Briese, George W. Bush
Stress positions, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other
May 20, 2004 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 2117
Email refers to a proposed press release from the Commanding General discussing the detainee death and abuse investigations. [The press release is attached, the first page of the attachment is blank]. The press release explains that there are ...
Feb. 15, 2006
Email
Donald J. Ryder
Use of water, Other, Physical assault, Sexual, General, Threat, Assault/death, Other
May 20, 2004 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 2120
Email includes two proposed copies of Donald J. Ryder's briefing to the Senate Arms Service Committee. One of the briefings is enclosed, it mentions that there are 69 CID investigations, forty-two of the sixty-nine cases involved incidents that ...
Feb. 15, 2006
Email
Donald J. Ryder
Carl Levin, John Warner, Donald J. Ryder
Use of water, Other, Physical assault, Sexual, General, Threat, Assault/death, Other
May 14, 2004 | FBI | ACLU-RDI 3062
Email details a meeting on May 14, 2004 between Laura Laughlin, Patrick Rowen, Robert Reed and others from DoD and FBI officials discussing the status of criminal prosecutions of military and civilian personnal involved in prisioner abuse in Iraq ...
Dec. 15, 2004
Email
Valerie E. Caproni
Patrick W. Kelley
Valerie E. Caproni, Patrick W. Kelley, Laura M. Laughlin, Patrick Rowan, Robert E. Reed
Other
May 13, 2004 | FBI | ACLU-RDI 3196
The email states "After we got off the phone, I found the attached email which we sent to General Miller last year. Also, there is a copy of the miltary's use of approved coercive techniques which are quite different I am sure from the Bureau ...
Dec. 15, 2004
Email
Geoffrey D. Miller
Other
May 13, 2004 | FBI | ACLU-RDI 3328
Edward H. Lueckenhoff's email detailes the problems at Abu Ghurayb prison and that he met with AUSAs Dana Biehl and Bruce Pagel who visited the prison. He states that AUSA Pagel advised that he [Pagel] was aware of the allegations of abuse at the ...
May 18, 2005
Email
Edward H. Lueckenhoff
Gary M. Bald
Edward H. Lueckenhoff, Gary M. Bald, M. Chris Briese, Frankie Battle, Thomas J. Harrington, Dana Biehl, Bruce A. Pagel, Ricardo Sanchez, Robert S. Mueller
Sleep deprivation, Other
May 09, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4063
Emails include an Associated Press article that reports on allegations of abuse in Iraq. The article includes accounts of abuse by released detainees, allegations included dog attacks, dietary manipulation and extended periods of hoodings.
Dec. 30, 2004
Email
Theresa K. Mitchell | JoAnn J. Dolan | Todd F. Buchwald | Harold L. Ingram
Janis Leigh Karpinski, JoAnn J. Dolan, Todd F. Buchwald, Harold L. Ingram, Lincoln P. Bloomfield, Peter G. Schmeelk , Rose M. Likins, Robin H. Sakoda, William J. Gehron
Rahad Naif, Hassan Naif, Saad Naif, Ra'id Mohammed Hassan
Use of electricity, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Temperature, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Other
May 07, 2004 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 1837
Original email describes a visit from [redacted], a committee member of an Islamic human rights organization. The email also references a conversation between the author and [redacted] discussing alleged abuse cases that took place at Abu Ghraib.
Dec. 21, 2005
Email
Geoffrey D. Miller, Ricardo Sanchez
Use of water, Other, Physical assault, General, Sleep deprivation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other