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 (542)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
June 02, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3956
This cable from the U.S. Mission in Geneva, Switzerland to Sec. State Powell is a forward of a letter received from the United Nations Special Rapporteurs on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions and Torture. The letter requests that the ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Cable
Colin L. Powell
Colin L. Powell
June 09, 2004 | Non-US | ACLU-RDI 4011
A letter from Netta Voutilainen of Amnisty International to Sec. of State Powell expressing concern for Mohammed Jassem 'Abd al-'Issawi, detained in Abu Ghraib since 12/17/03. Ms. Voutilainen askes "to be informed why he has been detained; and I ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Letter
Netta Voutilainen
Colin L. Powell
Colin L. Powell, George W. Bush, Donald H. Rumsfeld, L. Paul Bremer, Bonnie McElveen-Hunter
June 16, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4036
Email indicates that a document regarding a "torture notional statement" is attached. [Document is not included].
Dec. 30, 2004
Email
Robert K. Harris
JoAnn J. Dolan | Todd F. Buchwald | James H. Thessin | Samuel M. Witten | Edward R. Cummings
Shahnaz Gheibi, Robert K. Harris, JoAnn J. Dolan, Samuel M. Witten, Edward R. Cummings, Sharon E. Ahmad
June 16, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4037
Email indicates that a document regarding a "torture notional statement" is attached. [Document is not included].
Dec. 30, 2004
Email
Robert K. Harris
James H. Thessin | Todd F. Buchwald | Edward R. Cummings | JoAnn J. Dolan | Katherine M. Gorove
Shahnaz Gheibi, Robert K. Harris, James H. Thessin, Todd F. Buchwald, Edward R. Cummings, JoAnn J. Dolan, Katherine M. Gorove
June 21, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4038
Icon and email indicate that a file titled "state comments on torture day statement" is attached.
Dec. 30, 2004
Email
Katherine M. Gorove
JoAnn J. Dolan | Edward R. Cummings | Michael G. Kozak
Shahnaz Gheibi, Katherine M. Gorove, JoAnn J. Dolan, Edward R. Cummings, Michael G. Kozak, Sharon E. Ahmad, John B. Bellinger, III
June 24, 2004 | ACLU-RDI 4039
Email includes a pressing briefing question about the Uyghur detainees being held in Guantanamo, Mr. Boucher is asked whether the U.S. has decided to not send the Uyghur detainees back to China.
Dec. 30, 2004
Email
JoAnn J. Dolan
JoAnn J. Dolan, Richard A. Boucher, Sharon E. Ahmad
June 24, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4066
Email refers to an attachment, which is a draft guidance on L memos as reported in a Washington Post report. Ms. Dolan's comments are: "Attached for input/clearance is draft guidance on L memos as reported in today's Washington Post report. We ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Email
JoAnn J. Dolan
Edward R. Cummings | Todd F. Buchwald | James H. Thessin | Katherine M. Gorove | William Howard Taft, IV | Ronald W. Miller | Jonathan M. Crock
Edward R. Cummings, Todd F. Buchwald, James H. Thessin, Katherine M. Gorove, William Howard Taft, IV, Ronald W. Miller, Jonathan M. Crock
June 24, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4067
Emails discuss and include a cable from the U.K. Bar Association Chair and others expressing their opinion on interrogation methods utilized by the U.S. military in Iraq and Guantanamo. The U.K. Bar Association Chair stated that the "extreme ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Email
JoAnn J. Dolan
Edward R. Cummings | Todd F. Buchwald | Joshua L. Dorosin | James H. Thessin
Thomas Malionek, William J. Gehron, JoAnn J. Dolan, Edward R. Cummings, Todd F. Buchwald, Joshua L. Dorosin, James H. Thessin, Michael J. Dennis
Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Forced grooming, Other Humiliation
June 25, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4068
Emails refer to the release of Russian Guantanamo detainees released by Russian Procuracy. A document is attached to the emails. [Document is not included].
Dec. 30, 2004
Email
William J. Gehron, JoAnn J. Dolan, Katherine M. Gorove, Christopher N. Camponovo, Margaret J. Pollack, Edward R. Cummings, Robert K. Harris, Todd F. Buchwald, William Howard Taft, IV, Ronald W. Miller, Michael K. Morrow, Allen S. Greenberg
June 07, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4070

Emails discuss and include a Wall Street Journal article entitled "Pentagon Report Set Framework for Use of Torture: Security or Legal Factors Could Trump Restrictions, Memo to Rumsfeld Argued." The article discusses a classified ...

Dec. 30, 2004
Email
Robert K. Harris
Edward R. Cummings | Samuel M. Witten | Tom Malionek | Jonathan B. Schwartz
Donald H. Rumsfeld, George W. Bush, James T. Hill, Condoleeza Rice, Patrick Leahy, William J. Haynes, II, Thomas Malionek, William J. Gehron, Robert K. Harris, Edward R. Cummings, Samuel M. Witten, Michael G. Kozak, James H. Thessin, Jonathan B. Schwartz, William Howard Taft, IV, Robert E. Dalton, Katherine M. Gorove, Lois L. Allder, Daphne W. Cook, Darlyce M. Eley
Threat, Family/others, Stress positions, Sleep deprivation, Dietary manipulation, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Religious