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 (212)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
May 27, 2005 | CID | ACLU-RDI 5485
A CID prosecution of a Sergeant First Class (SFC) for the murder of Iraqi civilian, Salih Taher Khaleefa, and the maltreatment of an unidentified Iraqi juvenile. The investigation found that the SFC "shot and killed Mr. Khaleefa without ...
Jan. 14, 2011
Investigative File (CID), Notes, Photograph, Interview (Summaries/Notes)
Salih Taher Khaleefa
Physical assault, General, Face slap or insult slap, Threat, Assault/death, Other Humiliation
Apr. 30, 2004 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 5104
CIA copy of a New Yorker article tracing the responsibility for American soldiers brutalizing Iraqis at Abu Ghraib.
Mar. 15, 2013
Other
Janis Leigh Karpinski, Ricardo Sanchez, Antonio Taguba, Ivan L. Frederick, II, Charles A. Graner, Jr., Javal Sean Davis, Megan M. Ambuhl, Sabrina D. Harman, Jeremy C. Sivits, Lynndie Rana England, Joseph M. Darby, Scott Bobeck, Jerry Phillabaum, Donald J. Ryder, Jason Kennel, Thomas Pappas, Steven Jordan, Geoffrey D. Miller, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Ricardo Sanchez
EIT, Use of water, Water dousing, Other, Physical assault, General, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Sexual, Threat, Assault/death, Use of electricity, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual
May 23, 2004 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 5091
CIA copy of L.A. Times article reporting on the Pentagon's reversal on its conclusion about the death of Abed Hamed Mowhoush, an Iraqi general who died in U.S. custody in 2003. The article describes the history of the Pentagon's position, which ...
Mar. 15, 2013
Other
Mark Traecey Patrick Kimmitt
Abed Hamed Mowhoush
EIT, Use of water, Other, Physical assault, General, Threat, Family/others, Hooding/Goggling, Environmental manipulation
CIA | ACLU-RDI 5083
CIA summary of 60 Minutes program on detainee abuse in Iraq. The summary details the program's review of the released Abu Ghraib photos and some of the U.S. army officials involved in the scandal.
Mar. 15, 2013
Non-legal Memo
Ivan L. Frederick, II, Mark Traecey Patrick Kimmitt, Janis Leigh Karpinski
EIT, Physical assault, General, Sexual, Threat, Use of electricity, Other Humiliation, Sexual
Apr. 30, 2004 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 5082
CIA copy of Antiwar.com article describing the release of photographs revealing abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison.
Mar. 15, 2013
Other
Janis Leigh Karpinski, Donald H. Rumsfeld
EIT, Threat, Use of electricity, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual
Apr. 30, 2004 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 5081
CIA copy of London Sky News article describing Prime Minister Tony Blair's response to photographs showing American soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib.
Mar. 15, 2013
Other
Tony Blair, Mark Traecey Patrick Kimmitt, Ivan L. Frederick, II
EIT, Threat, Use of electricity, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Other, Environmental manipulation
Jan. 17, 2004 | ACLU-RDI 5072
This article reported that Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, the senior American officer in Iraq, had ordered criminal investigations into allegations of abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison.
Mar. 15, 2013
Other
Ricardo Sanchez, Ennis Whitehead, III, Allen West
Threat
May 05, 2004 | ACLU-RDI 5061
This article describes criminal investigations into detainee deaths and assaults in Iraq and Afghanistan in the aftermath of the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal. It documents Condoleeza Rice's public "apolog[y] to the Arab world," and Donald ...
Other
Condoleeza Rice, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Richard B. Myers, John McCain, Thomas Andrew Daschle, Tom DeLay, William Frist, Donald J. Ryder, Antonio Taguba, Peter Pace, George W. Casey, Jr.
Physical assault, Threat, Nudity, Other
July 29, 2009 | OPR | ACLU-RDI 5022

The DOJ's Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) released this report investigating whether Department of Justice attorneys violated their ethical obligations in issuing several memoranda authorizing the use of Enhanced Interrogation ...

July 19, 2010
Oversight Report
Frank Wolf, Larry Thompson, Ted Ullyot, George J. Tenet, Steven G. Bradbury, Jay S. Bybee, John C. Yoo, Patrick Leahy, David S. Addington, John D. Ashcroft, John B. Bellinger, III, David Brant, Michael Chertoff, Adam Ciongoli, Paul Clement, James B. Comey, Alice Fisher, Timothy E. Flanigan, Ari Fleischer, Jack L. Goldsmith, Alberto R. Gonzales, Stephen Hadley, William J. Haynes, II, John L. Helgerson, H. Marshall Jarrett, Patrick Leahy, Daniel B. Levin, John McCain, John McLaughlin, Paul McNulty, Harriet Miers, Alberto Mora, Steven J. Morello, Scott W. Muller, Robert S. Mueller, Patrick Philbin, Colin L. Powell, Condoleeza Rice, John A. Rizzo, Chuck Rosenberg, Donald H. Rumsfeld, George W. Bush, Michael Mukasey, Mark Filip, Barack H. Obama, David Margolis, Michael Gelles, Robert J. Delahunty, Diane E. Beaver, Thomas J. Romig, David Leitch, John B. Wiegmann, Alan Kreczko, Christopher Schroeder
Abu Zubaydah, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Mohammed al Qahtani, Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi
EIT, SERE, Use of water, Waterboarding, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Attention grasp, Facial hold, Walling, Threat, Assault/death, Family/others, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Temperature, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Forced grooming, Manipulation of interrogator’s identity, Other
Oct. 30, 2009 | DOJ-OIG | ACLU-RDI 5015

This document is the result of a review conducted by the Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) regarding the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) involvement in and observations of detainee interrogations in ...

Oct. 30, 2009
Oversight Report
Antonio Taguba, George R. Fay, Michael Chertoff, Albert T. Church, John D. Ashcroft, Larry Thompson, James R. Schlesinger, Robert S. Mueller, Arthur M. Cummings, II, Michael E. Dunlavey
Abu Zubaydah, Mohammed al Qahtani, Moazzam Begg, Saleh Mukleif Saleh, Mohamedou Ould Slahi , Mohammed El Gharani, Muhammad al Awfi, Ramzi Bin al Shibh
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding, Water dousing, Physical assault, General, Face slap or insult slap, Walling, Sexual, Threat, Assault/death, Rendition, Family/others, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Temperature, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Religious, Forced grooming, Forced physical training, Manipulation of interrogator’s identity