Here's a snippet (
Link):
a formerly classified memo revealed that he [Sanchez] personally sanctioned a series of coercive interrogation techniques outlawed by the Geneva Conventions.
Sanchez specifically denied as much during his testimony before Congress. See especially the exchange with Senator Dayton here. Or you can go to the next page (link) where Clinton brings up previous testimony by General Alexander of Military Intelligence that included a slide of orders originating from Sanchez's staff. General Miller, Colonel Warren and Sanchez all stick to a story that contradicts what Alexander said and in some points contradicts what was in the Taguba report. Sanchez and others plainly lied and otherwise tried to obfuscate the truth. But there are bigger fish implicated here.
Rumsfeld's testimony shows a clear effort to praise Sanchez, who would never have given such orders without personal approval from Rumsfeld, and make up a story to scapegoat underlings. (
link) Notice that right after he lays blame on a few "bad apples" Rumsfeld starts issuing praise to others. Second in the list is "the chain of command" (in other words, those who carried out the same orders Rumsfeld had previously issued for Gitmo (more on that
here). From the testimony to congress:
It's important for the American people and the world to know that while these terrible acts were perpetrated by a small number of the U.S. military, they were also brought to light by the honorable and responsible actions of other military personnel. There are many who did their duty professionally and we should mention that as well:
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First the soldier, Specialist Joseph Darby, who alerted the appropriate authorities that abuses of detainees were occurring. My thanks and appreciation to him for his courage and his values.
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Second, those in the military chain of command who acted promptly upon learning of those activities by initiating a series of investigations -- criminal and administrative -- to ensure that the abuses were stopped, that the responsible chain of command was relieved and replaced, and that the Uniform Code of Military Justice was followed;
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Third, units singled out for praise in General Taguba's Report for the care they provided detainees in their custody and their intolerance of abuses by others.
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And finally, the CENTCOM chain of command for taking action and publicly announcing to the world that investigations of abuse were underway.
When Rumsfeld got around to telling his own carefully constructed lie about what was done, he immediately refers to Sanchez as the Chain of Command:
When this incident came to light and was reported within the Chain of Command, we took several immediate actions. These will be discussed in detail by others here today, but let me highlight them.
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General Sanchez launched a criminal investigation immediately.
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He then asked for an administrative review of procedures at the Abu Ghraib facility. That is the so-called Taguba Report.
Several things are clear here. When Sanchez issued the order in September 2003, it was obviously because Rumsfeld had personally approved it after issuing similar orders for Gitmo. Sanchez would not have risked doing so without approval. Secondly, Rumsfeld specifically praises Sanchez because Sanchez had been doing as he was told and he rescinded parts of the orders six weeks later when after military lawyers got involved (link):
Six weeks after Gen Sanchez issued his memo, a subsequent directive banned the use of dogs and several of the other techniques following concerns raised by military lawyers.
Furthermore, the subsequent investigations asked for by Sanchez, once the military lawyers got involved, were not meant to find the origin of the orders, since he knew what that was. Instead, the actions praised by Rumsfeld were actually smokescreens and were intended to create scapegoats. Taguba and other investigators may or may not have been complicit, but their reports definitely failed to identify the real culprits. Since Rumsfeld had to have given the order before Sanchez would have signed off on unlawful torture, he very likely plotted with Sanchez on how to CYA because he knew that if he did not help Sanchez that Sanchez might later point the finger at Rumsfeld in order to save his own neck. Plain and simple.
In addition to plotting and lies by Rumsfeld to CYA his own posterior, we also know that Alberto Gonzales was looking for ways to circumvent the Geneva convention and likely had a hand in the original orders that Rumsfeld issued for Gitmo and the other orders later issued for elsewhere. And Gonzales was the White House lawyer, so his involvement implicates those farther up the food chain.
We need to put enough heat on Sanchez to force him to roll over on Rumsfeld at the very least. TO cut through the clutter, we may have to invoke the name of John Paul II, who was very unhappy about what happened at Abu Ghraib and who had personally tried to reach out to Muslims from time to time. He would have wanted those responsible for Abu Ghraib to be punished.