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 (6709)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
Jan. 02, 2005 | ACLU-RDI 3555
Form document
Jan. 02, 2005 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3556
This State Department Cable is entitled "Subject: Visit to Qandahar: Focus on Detainees" with no discernible information on its contents.
DOS | ACLU-RDI 3557
State Department Talking Points memo on the use of Guantanamo Bay as a detention facility for Al Qaida and Taliban detainees. The memo provides some background information on the decision to use Guantanamo, including the legislative context and ...
Nov. 23, 2004
Non-legal Memo
Donald H. Rumsfeld, Arlen Specter
| ACLU-RDI 3553
State Dept. Action Cable drafted by J. Bischoff, providing background and talking points on decision to detain Al Qaeda and Taliban detainees at Guantanamo
Dec. 28, 2001 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3554
State Department Action Cable with talking points about detentions at Guantanamo Bay of Al-Queada terrorists.
Nov. 23, 2004
Cable
Edward H. Goff
May 26, 2004 | Judicial | ACLU-RDI 3551

Email from Jason Callen, law clerk to Judge Frank Easterbrook, Seventh Circuit, to Jack Goldsmith and forwarded or blind-copied to Lawan Robinson, Confidential Assistant to the Assistant Attorney General, Department of Justice, Office of Legal ...

Sept. 19, 2005
Email
Jason Callen
Jack L. Goldsmith
John C. Yoo, Jack L. Goldsmith, Lawan Robinson, Jason W. Callen
Dec. 14, 2001 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3552

This State Department cable is captioned "Subject: Prosecution of Non-Afghanis Fighting With Al Qaeda Or Taliban" but contains no discernible information on the subject matter.

Nov. 23, 2004
Cable
William E. Landfair
Jan. 08, 2005 | ACLU-RDI 3548

A series of blog posts by a former OLC lawyer, Marty Lederman, discussing the difference between the DOJ's memo on torture from August 2002 and the memo on torture from December 30, 2004 (ACLU-RDI 3547).  The posts conclude that the Bush ...

June 01, 2005
Other
John C. Yoo, Daniel B. Levin, Alberto R. Gonzales, Richard J. Durbin
Waterboarding, Mock Burial, Rendition, Stress positions, Sleep deprivation, Light or sound, Hooding/Goggling, Religious, Use of water, Threat, Environmental manipulation, Other Humiliation
Jan. 06, 2005 | Legislative | ACLU-RDI 3549

Questions for Alberto Gonzalez, during his confirmation hearing, including many related to the treatment of detainees

June 01, 2005
Interview (Transcript)
Patrick Leahy
Alberto Gonzalez
Alberto R. Gonzales, John D. Ashcroft, Patrick Leahy, George W. Bush, Colin L. Powell, Donald H. Rumsfeld, George J. Tenet
June 26, 2003 | ACLU-RDI 3550

A letter praising the Bush administration for its work addressing the problem of torture and welcoming the Bush administration's statement that the United States will neither torture terrorist suspects nor use cruel and unusual treatment to ...

June 01, 2005
Letter
George W. Bush, William J. Haynes, II, Patrick Leahy