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 (60)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
May 23, 2003 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3650
Memo confirming Sec. Powell's meeting with International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) President Kellenberger on May 27, 2004. Meeting objectives include discussing ICRC’s ongoing concerns regarding the treatment of detainees in Afghanistan ...
Nov. 23, 2004
Non-legal Memo
Arthur E. Dewey
Colin L. Powell
Arthur E. Dewey , Zalmay Mamozy Khalilzad, Frank E. Schmelzer , P. Michael McKinley, JoAnn J. Dolan, Ronald W. Miller, Carol T. Santos, Frank E. Schmelzer , Colin L. Powell
June 03, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3651
DOS Memo confirming a meeting with the ICRC on June 06.
Nov. 23, 2004
Non-legal Memo
Frank E. Schmelzer , P. Michael McKinley, John Allen Buche, Nicholas M. Miscione, Douglas Hunter
May 17, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4628
Emails between DOS Officials briefly discussing an Indian citizen custody at Abu Ghraib and email forward of an Associated Press article discussing the release of Saddam Hussein from U.S. control to Iraq control.
Nov. 23, 2004
Email
Aaron M. Cope
Aaron W. Jost | James P. Seevers | Nicholas J. Dean
Frank E. Schmelzer , Aaron M. Cope , Aaron W. Jost, James P. Seevers , Nicholas J. Dean, Brian T. Neubert, John R. Waters, Cara L. Abercrombie
July 02, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4631
Emails between DOS Officials regarding detainees at Abu Ghraib (AG). The more recent email discusses an Israeli national, George Ben-Baki, who is believed to be a detainee at AG, however, the officials are unsure and awaiting confirmation from ...
Nov. 23, 2004
Email
Cara L. Abercrombie
Daniel J. Wartko
Richard G. Olson, Cara L. Abercrombie, Donald A. Blome, Daniel J. Wartko, Dorothy C. Shea, David J. Greene , Norman H. Olsen , David B. Berns, Thomas E. Williams, Frank E. Schmelzer
George Ben-Baki
June 29, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4634
Emails between DOS Officials discussing the death of an Egyptian scientist, Mohamed Abdel Moneim Al-Azmeerly, who was killed while in U.S. custody at Abu Ghraib. Joel M. Rubin wrote that there was not much discussion in Egypt on Al-Azmeerly's ...
Nov. 23, 2004
Email
Cara L. Abercrombie, Joel M. Rubin, Carrie W. Hernandez, Robin D. Meyer, Frank E. Schmelzer
Mohamed Abdel Moneim Al-Azmeerly
Physical assault, General
Jan. 11, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4636
Initial email mentions the treatment of Al-Qaeda and Taliban suspects in US custody in Afghanistan.
Nov. 23, 2004
Email
Charmaine D. Coleman
Adrian Daniel | Lynda M. Walker-Johnson
Charmaine D. Coleman, Lynda M. Walker-Johnson, Adrian Daniel, Colin L. Powell, Jonathan S. Carpenter, Maria B. Pica, Christopher Sibilla, Frank E. Schmelzer
May 02, 2003 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4640
Email from Carol A. Santos discussing the ICRC's concerns about Guantanamo detainees. [Contents redacted].
Nov. 23, 2004
Email
Carol A. Santos
Arthur E. Dewey | Peter M. McKiinley | Margaret J. Pollack | Piper A. Campbell
Carol T. Santos, Arthur E. Dewey , Carol T. Santos, P. Michael McKinley, Margaret J. Pollack, Piper Anne Wind Campbell, Frank E. Schmelzer
May 05, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4987
DOS Press Release asking if the ICRC has access to detainees in Iraq, including detainees at Abu Ghraib. The answer is yes.
Nov. 23, 2004
Other
Jonathan S. Carpenter, P. Michael McKinley, Frank E. Schmelzer
Nov. 10, 2001 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4754
DOS cover letter for six page document(s) discussing Afghanistan detention of captured persons.
Nov. 23, 2004
Letter
Maura Harty
Maura A. Harty, Frank E. Schmelzer
DOS | ACLU-RDI 3828

Email from Russ K. LaMotte, emailed a transcript of an April 20, 2004 Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) Hearing on Iraq and Afghanistan to other DOS officials. The hearing transcript is included; the theme is broad, it discusses the ...

Email, Interview (Transcript)
Russell K. LaMotte
Joshua L. Dorosin | James H. Thessin | Todd F. Buchwald | Stephen D. Mathias
Russell K. LaMotte, Joshua L. Dorosin, James H. Thessin, Todd F. Buchwald, D. Stephen Mathias, Carl Levin, Monica J. Tillery, Marc Grossman, Frank E. Schmelzer , John Warner, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard B. Myers, George W. Bush, Dov S. Zakeim, Eric Shinseki, John Dimitri Negroponte, Tommy Franks, Raymond T. Odierno, John R. Batiste, Jack Keane, Richard B. Myers, Mick Kicklighter, Francis J. Ricciardone, Jr., Jay Garner, Alan Wayne Allard, John McCain, Richard A. Clarke, Edward M. Kennedy, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Peter Schoomaker, Joe Lieberman, Sue Collins, Jeff Sessions, David Petraeus, John P. Abizaid, Jack Reed, Ricardo Sanchez, John Cornyn, Ben Nelson, Karl Winfrid Eikenberry, Elizabeth Dole, Mark Dayton, John Ensign, Daniel Akaka, Evan Bayh, Hillary Clinton, L. Paul Bremer, James Steele
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed