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 (267)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
Jan. 30, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3807
State Department cable to deliver a letter from Sec. of State Powell to Hubert Vedribe concerning Guantanamo detainees. The letter states "Dear Hubert: My government fully shares the view expressed in your letter of January 15 regarding the ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Cable
Colin L. Powell, Pierre-Richard Prosper
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
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 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
Aug. 13, 2004 | ACLU-RDI 3836
Radio Free Asia article about twenty-two Chinese-origin ethnic Uyghur detainees (they are a minority Muslim population in China) being held in Guantanamo. The article discusses allegations that the Uyghur detainees were abused/mistreated by a ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Other
Colin L. Powell
Aug. 27, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3856
Emails discuss a statement by Colin L. Powell regarding Uyghur detainees. Mr. Powell apparently stated in an article (link provided) that the Uyghur detainees would not be sent back to China.
Dec. 30, 2004
Email
JoAnn J. Dolan
Joshua L. Dorosin
Colin L. Powell, Monica J. Tillery, Joshua L. Dorosin, JoAnn J. Dolan, Ronald W. Miller, Christopher N. Camponovo, Frank E. Schmelzer
Oct. 31, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3874
State Department cable from the Paris Embassy re: French judge dismisses Guantanamo detainees’ case. On October 31, a French judge dismissed the case brought by the families of two French nationals being held at Guantanamo base. The families were ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Cable
Colin L. Powell
Colin L. Powell, Bruce Swartz
Sept. 11, 2003 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3886
State Department cable from Kuwaiti Embassy to State Department re: Ambassador Pierre-Richard Prosper Discusses Iraqi War Crimes and Guantanamo. The cable states that Amb. Pierre-Richard Prosper met with Committee for Missing and POW Affairs ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Cable
Colin L. Powell
Pierre-Richard Prosper, Colin L. Powell
Mar. 04, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3889
DOS Cable re: Families of Guantanamo Detainees Increase Pressure on Government of France. This cable expresses the French government's preference to have French citizens returned to France to face the French judicial system and to pursue that ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Cable
Sharon A. Wiener
Colin L. Powell
Colin L. Powell, Sharon A. Wiener