By Will Dunham
Reuters, 02 May 2006
WASHINGTON, May 2 (Reuters) - The top U.S. commander in Iraq during the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal urged U.S. forces to "go to the outer limits" to extract information from prisoners, according to a U.S. officer cited in a military document.
The Army last year exonerated Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez of wrongdoing relating to detainee abuse, but human rights lawyers said the document raises fresh questions about the degree to which senior officers sanctioned the abuse.
"This is evidence that raises additional questions about the role of Lt. Gen. Sanchez in authorizing and endorsing the abuse of prisoners," Jameel Jaffer, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer, said on Tuesday.
The May 19, 2004 Defense Intelligence Agency document was among more than 100,000 pages of files turned over by the government to the ACLU under court order as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.
The DIA inspector general's office document, marked "secret," described an interview in which an officer, whose name was redacted, expressed "knowledge of incidents relating to Iraq prison situation."
It was written three weeks after the first pictures of U.S. forces abusing detainees at Abu Ghraib -- including beating them, stacking naked men in a pyramid and menacing them with snarling dogs -- became public in April 2004.
The officer, who headed a team of three to four interrogators, described a 35-page document detailing "rules of engagement" for interrogators questioning prisoners in Iraq.
"The people were encourage (sic) to go to the outer limits to get information from the detainees by people who wanted the information," the document stated.
'BREAK THE DETAINEES'
It said Sanchez saw a "desperate need" to get intelligence from the prisoners, adding that "HQ (headquarters) wanted the interrogators to break the detainees."
The document did not mention individual interrogation techniques, nor did it link Sanchez to any specific abuses.
Sanchez served for about a year as the top commander in Iraq beginning in June 2003, and was in the post during the worst of the abuse at Abu Ghraib. Sanchez currently serves in Germany as commander of the U.S. Army's 5th Corps.
Pentagon officials said the Army takes seriously issues related to detainee abuse.
"The goal has been to examine allegations of detainee abuse or potential reports of detainee abuse, thoroughly investigate them and, if appropriate, handle them through judicial or nonjudicial punishment if substantiated," said Army spokesman Paul Boyce.
Nearly all the U.S. service members who have faced criminal charges for detainee abuse have been low ranking.
"The documents that have been released under the Freedom of Information Act make very clear that senior military officials and civilian leaders should be held accountable for what took place," Jaffer said.
Jaffer also pointed to an April 2, 2004, document -- coming weeks before the Abu Ghraib pictures brought the issue of prisoner abuse to the attention of the world -- detailing 62 military investigations of detainee abuse and death cases.
A previously released Sept. 14, 2003, memo from Sanchez showed that he authorized the potential use of interrogation tactics more harsh than accepted Army practice, including using guard dogs to exploit "Arab fear of dogs."
That memo also allowed for "stress positions," in which a prisoner is placed in potentially painful bodily positions to try to get him to talk.
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Citation: Will Dunham. "US general urged 'outer limits' Iraq interrogation," Reuters, 02 May 2006.
Original URL: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N02295252.htm
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