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 (123)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
| ACLU-RDI 3802
Press release entitled "Government Accepts Military Commissions for Guantanamo Bay Detainees" concerning the matter of David Hicks, an Australian accused of being a Taliban fighter and held in Guantanamo
Dec. 30, 2004
Other
George W. Bush
David Hicks, Abdul Habib
May 17, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3824
DOS Cable discussing allegations that the U.S. Army abused prisoners at Guantanamo. An English newspaper, 'Bahrain Tribune,' reported that U.S. prison guards beat an ailing Bahraini detainee, Juma Al-Dossari.
Dec. 30, 2004
Cable
Ronald E. Neumann
Colin L. Powell
George W. Bush, Colin L. Powell, Ronald E. Neumann, Charles L. Daris, Valerie C. Fowler, William P. Marriott, C. David Welch, Stephen Bondy, Karl W. Hofmann, Harry R. Melone
Juma Mohammed Abdul Latif al Dosari
Physical assault, General
Feb. 19, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3825
DOS Cable discussing allegations that the U.S. Army abused prisoners at Guantanamo. An English newspaper, 'Bahrain Tribune,' reported that U.S. prison guards beat an ailing Bahraini detainee, Juma Al-Dossari.
Dec. 30, 2004
Cable
Valerie C. Fowler, Karl W. Hofmann, William P. Marriott, Harry R. Melone, Charles L. Daris, Colin L. Powell, George W. Bush, Ronald E. Neumann, C. David Welch, Stephen Bondy
Juma Mohammed Abdul Latif al Dosari
Physical assault, General
Mar. 08, 2003 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3827
Email refers to a Human Rights Watch report on abuse by U.S. forces at detention facilities in Afghanistan. The report alleges that U.S. forces operating in Afghanistan have arbitrarily detained civilians, used excessive force and mistreated ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Email
Robert K. Harris
JoAnn J. Dolan | Ed Cummings | Joshua L. Dorosin | Todd F. Buchwald
Robert K. Harris, JoAnn J. Dolan, Edward R. Cummings, Joshua L. Dorosin, Todd F. Buchwald, Monica J. Tillery, George W. Bush
May 06, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3829
DOS Press Release of a CNN Interview of Richard L. Armitage discussing the administration's response to a "detainee scandal."
Dec. 30, 2004
Other
George W. Bush, Richard Lee Armitage, Colin L. Powell, Donald H. Rumsfeld
May 19, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3831
Press release discussing, generally, the U.S. government's goal towards disarmament and democracy in Iraq.
Dec. 30, 2004
Other
James B. Cunningham
James B. Cunningham, George W. Bush, Frank E. Schmelzer
May 26, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3832
Roundtable interview with Secretary of State, Colin L. Powell. On May 26. 2004, Mr. Powell answered a series of questions from journalists regarding allegations of detainee abuse in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay.
Dec. 30, 2004
Other
Frank E. Schmelzer , Antonio Taguba, Colin L. Powell, Richard Green Lugar, Tom Lantos, Henry J. Hyde, George W. Bush, Condoleeza Rice, Richard B. Cheney, Donald H. Rumsfeld, John D. Ashcroft
June 17, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3834
This DOS memo appears to be talking points for a John Dimitri Negroponte interview with Jim Lehrer on topics, including detainee abuse, detainee policy, and Saddam Hussein.
Dec. 30, 2004
Non-legal Memo
George W. Bush, Frank E. Schmelzer , John Dimitri Negroponte
June 22, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3835
Email discusses and includes a press release of a press briefing with Judge Alberto Gonzales. Judge Gonzales discusses, generally, the war on terror.
Dec. 30, 2004
Email
Thomas A. Johnson
Ed Cummings | Christopher N. Camponovo
Thomas A. Johnson, Edward R. Cummings, Christopher N. Camponovo, Alberto R. Gonzales, Russell K. LaMotte, Jacob K. Cogan, Rosemary A. DiCarlo, Janis Chapman-Gates, Susan P. Suh, Richard Grenell , Monica L. Cummings, Eric L. Owens , Daniel Dell'Orto, Keith B. Alexander, George W. Bush, William J. Haynes, II, Jay S. Bybee, John C. Yoo, Scott McClellan, James T. Hill, Mary Walker, Geoffrey D. Miller, John P. Abizaid, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Newt Minow, Lloyd Cutler
Mohammed al Qahtani, Jose Padilla, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed
May 13, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3842

Email includes news articles about high level detainees, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and Abu Zubaydah and the "harsh" interrogation methods the CIA employs. The email includes another article, which reports specific accounts of abuse.

Dec. 30, 2004
Email
Jonathan B. Schwartz
Katherine M. Gorove | Michael J. Dennis
George W. Bush, Jonathan B. Schwartz, Katherine M. Gorove, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Frank E. Schmelzer , Michael J. Dennis, Mark P. Lagon, Lorne Craner, Michael G. Kozak, Miriam K. Hughes, Janice A. Smith
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Abu Zubaydah, Walid Bin Attash
Physical assault, General, Stress positions, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Temperature, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Forced grooming