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 (41)

This Charge Sheet describes charges brought against Soldiers who staged a mock execution on an Iraqi boy (13-17 years old) by driving him to a field and firing live rounds near his head. They claim it was done to scare him off from looting. The ...
Apr. 18, 2005
Legal Memo, UCMJ (Court-Martial)
Physical assault, General, Threat, Assault/death
A soldier was convicted for striking a detainee and threatening the same detainee with a loaded weapon. In addition, the soldier was found to have attempted to impede an investigation by influencing sworn statements. He tried to prevent a ...
Apr. 18, 2005
Interview (Statement), UCMJ (Article 15, Article 32)
Physical assault, Assault/death, Mock Burial, Threat
A soldier was convicted for threatening a detainee with a loaded weapon. Punishment includes: 180 day suspension, $250/month forfeiture for two months. The inquiry found that the soldier threatened and fired their weapon in an effort to scare ...
Apr. 18, 2005
UCMJ (Article 15)
Physical assault, General, Threat, Assault/death
USMC Investigation into incident of abuse where a superior officer ordered a subordinates to take a detainees’ money, strip them naked to their underwear and release them in their underwear. Some soldiers protested. Investigator recommends ...
May 15, 2006
Non-legal Memo, Investigative File
John F. Kelly
Threat, Assault/death, Nudity
This Memo from the Army is dismissing, with prejudice, charges brought in a Court-Martial proceeding in exchange for the soldier pleading guilty to two (2) charges brought in an Article 15 proceeding. The investigation was in regards to ...
Mar. 23, 2005
Legal Memo, Photograph, Interview (Statement), UCMJ (Court-Martial, Article 15)
Face slap or insult slap, Walling, General, Assault/death, Physical assault, Threat
Email with an executive summary of CID investigation into a Lieutenant Colonel's admission of issuing a death threat and firing his pistol next to the head of a detainee (an uncooperative Iraqi police officer suspected of being part of a plot to ...
Apr. 05, 2005
Investigative File (CID), Email
Bruce E. Davis
Physical assault, Threat, Assault/death
Investigation into an incident of two soldiers assaulting an Iraqi civilian who had been taken into custody of the US Army near the Iraq Museum of Military History, Baghdad, Iraq. The investigation established probable cause to believe that the ...
Nov. 08, 2004
Investigative File (CID), Photograph
John Peterson, Jacqueline J. Scott
Physical assault, Threat, Assault/death
Report of investigation into the abuse and mock execution of Iraqi civilians by a U.S. soldier on two separate occasions. Investigation established that the soldier committed the offenses of assault, conspiracy, release of a detainee without ...
Nov. 08, 2004
Investigative File (CID), Photograph
Jacqueline J. Scott
Threat, Assault/death

Investigation established probable cause to believe that a soldier from C Co., 2/8th Inf. Bn., 4ID stole money from an Iraqi civilian at a checkpoint, and threatened the civilian with his rifle when he refused to leave without his money. The ...

Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
Jacqueline J. Scott
Threat, Assault/death

Two (2) soldiers from 1/9 Field Artillery entered two Iraqi civilian homes by force, stole two brief cases containing valuables and cash from one home, stole jewlery from the other home, pointed weapons at the families while searching the ...

Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
Assault/death, Other, Threat