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)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
May 23, 2003 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3650
Memo confirming Sec. Powell's meeting with International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) President Kellenberger on May 27, 2004. Meeting objectives include discussing ICRC’s ongoing concerns regarding the treatment of detainees in Afghanistan ...
Nov. 23, 2004
Non-legal Memo
Arthur E. Dewey
Colin L. Powell
Arthur E. Dewey , Zalmay Mamozy Khalilzad, Frank E. Schmelzer , P. Michael McKinley, JoAnn J. Dolan, Ronald W. Miller, Carol T. Santos, Frank E. Schmelzer , Colin L. Powell
June 04, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3645
No relevant text.
Nov. 23, 2004
Cable
Richard A. Boucher, Frank E. Schmelzer , Mitchell B. Reiss, Jonathan S. Carpenter, Zalmay Mamozy Khalilzad, William B. Taylor
May 11, 2003 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3646
DOS Memo from Arthur E. Dewey to Sec. Powell requesting an meeting with ICRC President, Jakob Kellenberger on either May 27 or 28. The purpose of the meeting is to exchange views on key humanitarian issues relating to detainees in Iraq.
Nov. 23, 2004
Non-legal Memo
Richard L. Greene
Colin L. Powell
Daniel B. Smith, Richard L. Greene, Arthur E. Dewey , Frank E. Schmelzer , Condoleeza Rice, Paula J. Dobriansky, William Howard Taft, IV, Donald H. Rumsfeld, P. Michael McKinley, Jonathan S. Carpenter, JoAnn J. Dolan, Ronald W. Miller, Colin L. Powell
Apr. 04, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3643
DOS Cable, the subject reads: Ambassador Prosper discusses detainee issues with ICRC president Kellenberger. [There is no other discernible information].
Nov. 23, 2004
Cable
Pierre-Richard Prosper, Richard A. Boucher, Mitchell B. Reiss, Frank E. Schmelzer
May 26, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3644
DOS Cable/letter from Colin L. Powell to ICRC President requesting access to the ICRC's confidential reports on visits to detention facilities in Iraq, Guantanamo and Afghanistan. The letter states that the reports will be disseminated, in strict ...
Nov. 23, 2004
Cable
Colin L. Powell
Colin L. Powell, Simone Whittemore, William Howard Taft, IV, Ronald W. Miller, JoAnn J. Dolan, Frank E. Schmelzer
May 06, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3642
DOS Press Release asking if the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) has access to detainees in Iraq, including detainees at Abu Ghraib, the answer is yes. The ICRC has also expressed its concerns with detainee abuse and made ...
Nov. 23, 2004
Non-legal Memo
Richard A. Boucher, Frank E. Schmelzer , P. Michael McKinley, Jonathan S. Carpenter
Dec. 10, 2003 | ACLU-RDI 3639
Letter to Colin Powell expressing concern over the detention of children, including Omar Khadr, at Guantanamo Bay.
Nov. 23, 2004
Letter
Colin L. Powell
Colin L. Powell, Frank E. Schmelzer
Omar Ahmed Khadr
July 30, 2003 | ACLU-RDI 3636
Letter from a non-government official denouncing the President's November 13, 2001 Military Order: Detention, Treatment, and Trial of Certain Non-Citizens in the War on Terrorism. The letter also expresses the author's concern that six detainees, ...
Nov. 23, 2004
Letter
George W. Bush | Colin L. Powell
Colin L. Powell, George W. Bush, Frank E. Schmelzer
Feroz Ali Abassi, Moazzam Begg, David Hicks
July 25, 2003 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3637
Letter from an activist denouncing the President's November 13, 2001 Military Order: Detention, Treatment, and Trial of Certain Non-Citizens in the War on Terrorism. The letter also expresses the author's regret that six detainees, including, ...
Nov. 23, 2004
Letter
Colin L. Powell, Frank E. Schmelzer
Feroz Ali Abassi, Moazzam Begg, David Hicks
June 17, 2002 | ACLU-RDI 3634
Letters sent from various individuals at Amnesty International to George W. Bush and Colin L. Powell requesting proper treatment of detainees at Guantanamo and in Afghanistan. The main theme of the letters is the US' violation of international ...
Nov. 23, 2004
Letter
Colin L. Powell, George W. Bush, Frank E. Schmelzer , Donald H. Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Jack Straw, John Winston Howard
Bisher Amin Khalil al Rawi, Jamil El Banna, Moazzam Begg, David Hicks, Feroz Ali Abassi