Ricardo Sanchez

Ricardo Sanchez (born September 9, 1953) is a former lieutenant general in the United States Army.

He spent one year at the University of Texas at Austin on an ROTC scholarship, eventually transferring to Texas A&M University-Kingsville, where he graduated in 1973 with a double major in mathematics and history.

Sánchez was named a Distinguished Military Graduate (DMG), meaning he was in the top 20% of all ROTC cadets in the nation.

He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Army.

By 1977, he had transferred from the infantry to armor.

He received promotions regularly and was stationed at posts in the United States, South Korea, Panama and Germany.

Sánchez became a platoon leader in the 82nd Airborne Division, stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

In 1991, then Lieutenant Colonel Sánchez served as a battalion commander during Operation Desert Storm, successfully leading his unit of the 197th Infantry Brigade (Mechanized) to Basra without suffering any casualties.

Shortly after the Gulf War, Sánchez was promoted to colonel and given command of the 2nd Brigade of the 1st Infantry Division.

Afterwards, he served on the staff of U.S. Southern Command, first as deputy chief of staff then as director of operations.

On July 10, 2001, by then a general, Sánchez became commander of 1st Armored Division under V Corps.

His career was most notable for authorizing the use of torture at the Abu Ghraib prison between 2003 and 2004.

Sánchez was born into a poor Mexican American family in Rio Grande City, Texas.

During the Vietnam War, Sánchez was in college.

He held that position for nearly two years, including commanding the division during the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, before assuming command of V Corps on June 14, 2003.

On this date he also became commander of Combined Joint Task Force 7, the coalition ground forces in the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq.

Much of Sánchez's time commanding 1st Armored Division had been as a brigadier general.

Sánchez held the top military position in Iraq during what was arguably one of the most critical periods of the war—the year after the fall of the Hussein regime, and the time the insurgency took root and began its counterattack.

Highlights during his tenure as commander in Iraq include the killing of Uday and Qusay Hussein, and the capture of Saddam Hussein.

He was in command when the abuse of prisoners occurred most notably at Abu Ghraib prison.

Some have been highly critical of the U.S. military's failure to hold senior officers accountable, as blame for abuses at Abu Ghraib and other detention centers was placed only on a few individuals of the lowest rank.

Sánchez was succeeded as commander of coalition ground forces in Iraq by a four-star general: former Army Vice Chief of Staff George Casey.

This changeover was part of a larger split in responsibilities as Sánchez's former command, Combined Joint Task Force 7 under a three-star general, was superseded by Multi-National Force Iraq under a four-star general.

L. Paul Bremer was the leader of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq.

As the appointed authority, Bremer wanted national elections to take place only after the creation of a constitution that included basic principles about the election process.

This led to the delay of the elections, which led to serious problems.

It was during this time that the power vacuum within Baghdad was being filled by a Shi'a cleric, a factor that Bremer failed to take into account.

Insurgency among Sunni civilians first became a problem when American troops first became a presence on Iraqi soil.

This insurgency led to Bremer kicking all the Sunni Ba'thists out the Iraqi administration and the disbandment of the Iraqi army via Coalition Provisional Authority Order 2, which only prompted a harsh response from the American troops.

This was a very poor decision on Bremer's part, according to Sánchez, who viewed the insurgency as mostly provoked by Bremer.

He is quoted as saying,

"When you take a father in front of his family and put a bag over his head and put him on the ground, you have a significant adverse effect on his dignity and respect in the eyes of his family."

There was almost a complete failure to communicate between Bremer, the top civilian, and Sánchez, the military leader.

According to journalist Thomas Ricks: "It was very clear they hated each other. They lived in the same palace and didn't talk to each other."

This disunity in leadership has been cited as one of the major failures of the first year of the Iraq War.

Sánchez was commander of coalition forces during a period when abuse of prisoners occurred at Abu Ghraib and at other locations.

In a memo signed by General Sánchez and later acquired by the ACLU through a Freedom of Information Act request, techniques were authorized to interrogate prisoners, included "environmental manipulation" such as making a room hot or cold or using an "unpleasant smell", isolating a prisoner, disrupting normal sleep patterns and "convincing the detainee that individuals from a country other than the United States are interrogating him."

On May 5, 2006, Sánchez denied ever authorizing interrogators to "go to the outer limits".

Sánchez said he had told interrogators: "...we should be conducting our interrogations to the limits of our authority."

Sanchez called the ACLU: "...a bunch of sensationalist liars, I mean lawyers, that will distort any and all information that they get to draw attention to their positions."