The Church report on detainee interrogation and incarceration (officially ''Review of Department of Defense Detention Operations and Detainee Interrogation Techniques'') is a report completed under the direction of
Vice Admiral Albert T. Church, an officer in the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
. Church was then the Naval
Inspector General
An inspector general is an investigative official in a civil or military organization. The plural of the term is "inspectors general".
Australia
The Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (Australia) (IGIS) is an independent statutory off ...
.
Church's mandate was to investigate the interrogation and incarceration of detainees in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
"
war on terror
The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is an ongoing international Counterterrorism, counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks. The main targets of the campa ...
", in
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
,
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
and
Guantanamo Bay. The inquiry was initiated on May 25, 2004. A version of its report was finished on March 2, 2005 and published on March 11.
An unclassified 21-page executive summary has been circulated. The full 368-page report is classified.
Church and his staff interviewed 800 individuals, Washington policy-makers, Armed Services members, and allies of the United States.
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...
reports that the Church inquiry didn't interview any detainees.
Highlights
*The inquiry concluded that 26 deaths in custody merited homicide charges.
*Senior officers ignored warning signs, like the reports submitted to them by the Red Cross.
Unredacted version published
On February 11, 2009, the
American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...
received an unredacted copy of the report.
[
] They published an excerpt allegedly proving illegal
abuses of power had resulted in the death of several individuals.
*Original 2005 Church Report redacted release
Part 1Part 2Part 3Church Report*Further Church Report material released in litigation
Report p.281 released April 2008
Report pp. 353-365 released April 2008
Report pp.235 & 242 released January 2009
See also
*
Fay Report
*
Ryder Report
References
External links
Church Report Falls Short of Establishing Accountability; PHR Calls for Independent Commission to Investigate Torture by US Forces in Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantánamo ''
Physicians for Human Rights'' March 14, 2005
New Interrogation Rules Set for Detainees in Iraq reprint from ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', March 10, 2005
US Military Says 26 Inmate Deaths May Be Homicide reprint from ''The New York Times'', March 16, 2005
Abuse Review Exonerates Policy: Low-Level Leaders and Confusion Blamed ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' March 10, 2005
Center for Constitutional Rights Says Rumsfeld Must be Held Accountable for Inmate Homicides in Iraq And Afghanistan
Counterterrorism in the United States
Guantanamo Bay detention camp
Reports of the United States government
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