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Stop Torture Project

Since the "War on Terror" began, the US has become a "torturing nation." The terrible treatment of prisoners in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantánamo are not isolated incidents.

The sanctioned system of torture is putting our country in great peril.  Torture undermines the very foundations of our democracy and contradicts our nation's moral values.  Practice of torture also marginalizes our country further and further and decreases our respectability in the world community.

Learn more about US-sponsored torture, and what you can do to end it:

Workshop on Stopping Torture

Host an AFSC Stop Torture workshop! All you need is a welcoming space and interested participants, and we will do the rest.

Turning to the Dark Side

Get the facts about US detainees and torture, and what you can do about it.

Californians Against Medical Complicity in Torture

Learn how some medical professionals participate in torture, despite their pledge to avoid inflicting harm.

Light a Candle for Current Torture Victims

Connect with torture victims by reading their biographies and lighting a candle.

Action Steps and Resources

Help end torture. Here is what you can do.

Newly arrived prisoners at Guantánamo Bay. Photo: Shane T. McCoy, US Navy

When the Bush Administration initiated the "Global War on Terror," Vice President Cheney was quoted as saying, "We'll have to work —sort of—the dark side, if you will."

Several years later, who could have imagined that prisoners in US custody would be held indefinitely without charges, without the right to see the evidence against them, without trial, without appeal, without hope?

Few of us imagined that in just a few years terms like "Guantánamo Bay," "Abu Ghraib," "black sites," "ghost detainees," "extraordinary rendition," "water-boarding," and "enhanced interrogation" would have become part of the American vocabulary.

The AFSC considers torture an utterly immoral practice that reduces the humanity of the tortured, the torturer and the torturing society. As long as our country tortures, we are all complicit in the cruelty.

Still fewer of us might have imagined that United States would become a "torturing nation."

The US system of torture was conceived by the Bush Administration, sanctioned by the U.S. Congress, covered up by the US military, and has largely been ignored by the mainstream U.S. media.

While all branches of the US government are systematizing and legitimizing torture, a national debate about its necessity, its nature, its legality and morality continues. Myths and misinformation about U.S. torture cloud that debate.  Although many of us have a sense that torture is wrong, we feel unsure about how we can talk to others about it and uncertain about how to stop it.

The AFSC considers torture an utterly immoral practice that reduces the humanity of the tortured, the torturer and the torturing society. It is hypocritical because it makes all who practice or sanction it into the very thing that they fear and despise and are endeavoring to prevent by using torture in the first place. And as long as our country tortures, we are all complicit in the cruelty.

The AFSC is convinced that, as a nation, we can solve the challenges before us without resorting to the barbarity of torture. This web site strives to aid the movement to end US torture by presenting information to separate the myths from the facts about torture. Here you can learn about our campaign to end the complicity of medical and mental health professionals in torture and learn how to take action to stop torture.

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