Der Spiegel is reporting that, “General Ricardo Sanchez, commander of the US forces in Iraq during the Abu Ghraib torture scandal, authorized interrogation techniques that included putting prisoners in stressful physical positions and changing sleep patterns, according to an internal US memo obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on Tuesday.” The memo was rescinded about a month later, “because of objections raised by military lawyers over its legality.”
The ACLU and Human Rights First have sued Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and are seeking to establish that, “Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld bears direct responsibility for the torture and abuse of detainees in U.S. military custody.”