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 (3)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
Feb. 27, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4132
This is a State department Talking points and press guidance memo concerning the legal basis for the U.S. holding detainees at Guantanamo. The talking points highlight that the detainees are "enemy Combatants" and not Prisoners of War (POWs) and ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Non-legal Memo
Evan T. Bloom, William Howard Taft, IV, James H. Thessin, Jonathan B. Schwartz, Edward R. Cummings, David W. Bowker, Mark F. Wong, John B. Bellinger, III, Eliana Davidson, Daniel P. Collins
Feb. 08, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3935
This State Department cable provides talking points for US mission & Embassy officials to inform foreign governments about the transfer of their citizens/nationals to Guantanamo after they were picked-up on the battle field of Afghanistan. It ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Cable
Brent E. Blaschke , David W. Bowker, Debra L. Cagan, John B. Bellinger, III
Feb. 11, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3580
This State Department cable provides talking points concerning informing foreign governments about the transfer of their citizens/nationals to Guantanamo after they were picked-up on the battle field of Afghanistan. The information is on the ...
Nov. 23, 2004
Cable
Colin L. Powell
Brent E. Blaschke
Colin L. Powell, Brent E. Blaschke , Debra L. Cagan, John B. Bellinger, III