[JURIST] Two of eight former Iraqi detainees who are suing Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld [complaint, PDF] told ABC News Monday they were tortured while in US custody. The torture included beatings, electrocution with tazers, food and water deprivation, being shot with rubber bullets, and threatened with sodomy. One detainee who was housed at the former Republican Palace in Baghdad claims US troops attempted to coerce a statement by threatening to put him in a cage with a live lion. The American Civil Liberties Union [advocacy website] and Human Rights First [advocacy website] filed the lawsuit on behalf of the men in March [JURIST report], claiming that Rumsfeld and other US military officials were directly responsibility for abuses and that his actions violated the US Constitution, federal statutes and international law. ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero said the Pentagon "basically told that this was a different type of war, and the rules didn't apply anymore." The ACLU has court documents and detainee profiles. ABC News has more.