WASHINGTON, 13 June 2004 — The top US military commander in Iraq approved high-pressure tactics used on inmates at the infamous Abu Ghraib prison, The Washington Post reported yesterday.
US Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez approved letting senior officials at Abu Ghraib “use military dogs, temperature extremes, reversed sleep patterns, sensory deprivation and diets of bread and water on detainees whenever they wished,” according to the Post, citing US government documents.
Sanchez borrowed heavily from a list of interrogation tactics used at the detention center at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, according to the Post.
In early September 2003, Sanchez authorized prison officials to use the pressure tactics without having to seek authorization from higher-ranking officials outside the prison.
The documents obtained by The Washington Post spell out in greater detail than previously known the interrogation tactics Sanchez authorized, and make clear for the first time that, before last October, they could be imposed without first seeking the approval of anyone outside the prison. That gave officers at Abu Ghraib wide latitude in handling detainees.
However, military officers at the Tampa, Fla. headquarters of the US Central Command raised objections to 32 measures that Sanchez had approved.
By October 2003, those measures were ended, and prison officials were to obtain Sanchez’s direct approval to use the remaining authorized pressure tactics, the Post reported.
Wendy Patten, a lawyer and US advocacy director for Human Rights Watch, said two provisions in the Oct. 9 document are particularly troubling. First, she noted its reference to “dietary manipulation — minimum bread and water, monitored by medics" as a technique permitted with the approval of the interrogation officer in charge. “This seems a clear violation of the Geneva Conventions, which require daily food rations to have enough quantity, quality and variety to maintain good health, prevent weight loss and prevent nutritional deficiencies,’’ Patten said.
She also expressed concern about the policy’s blanket approval of “incentive item removal — regarding religious items" as a tactic that may be used on civilian detainees, which she said appears to conflict with a Geneva Conventions requirement that detainees enjoy “complete latitude in the exercise of their religious duties."
Sanchez will be replaced by a four-star general when the transitional Iraqi government takes office on June 30, senior Pentagon officials said in late May. They said earlier that Sanchez’s future would likely be on hold until the investigations are completed, emphasizing it was not a matter of punishment but of command accountability.
