Ricardo Sanchez Ordered Detainees "Broken"
US general urged "outer limits" Iraq interrogation
According to a 35-page May 19, 2004 Defense Intelligence Agency document obtained by the ACLU, Lt General Ricardo Sanchez ordered interrogators to "break the detainees."
"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.
It said Sanchez saw a 'desperate need' to get intelligence from the prisoners, adding that 'HQ (headquarters) wanted the interrogators to break the detainees.' "
According to a 35-page May 19, 2004 Defense Intelligence Agency document obtained by the ACLU, Lt General Ricardo Sanchez ordered interrogators to "break the detainees."
"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.
It said Sanchez saw a 'desperate need' to get intelligence from the prisoners, adding that 'HQ (headquarters) wanted the interrogators to break the detainees.' "
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