Former Top Iraq Commander Calls For Truth Commission

[one...two...tree 2,762]

By Zachary Roth

General Ricardo Sanchez, the former top coalition commander in Iraq, has called for a truth commission to investigate abusive interrogation practices.

At an event last night at the Times Center in New York City, reports the Huffington Post, Sanchez blamed the Abu Ghraib abuses on a failure of civilian and military command at all levels, declaring "and that is why I support the formation of a truth commission."

In doing so, Sanchez became the first senior military officer from the Iraqi theater to call for a truth commission. His position is particularly noteworthy because Abu Ghraib occurred on his watch, and he's been widely blamed for the abuses. He has said that his career was a casualty of Abu Ghraib. "That's the key reason, the sole reason, I was forced to retire," he has said.

Sanchez also fought back against ####### Cheney's claim that torture helped stop terrorist attacks: "During my time in Iraq there was not one instance of actionable intelligence that came out of these interrogation techniques."

Speaking to Huffpo after the event, Sanchez elaborated: "For the American people to really know what happened...this was an institutional failure, a personal failure on the part of many." He continued: "If we do not find out what happened then we are doomed to repeat it."

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/...ssi.php?ref=fpa

[Pooky 3,795]

Typical embittered military commander. As the OIC, the military buck stops with him. The abusive practices at Abu Ghraib occurred on his watch, were carried out by men and women under his command, so the military consequences fall on him.

At Nuremberg, the cry of "I was only following orders" fell on deaf ears because, in a military built on a tradition of honour, it is an officer's duty to uphold the tradition, not blindly allow something to go on that they know is wrong. If that means they fall on their sword before the event, so be it, if it calls attention to the issue.

What Sanchez is doing here is not honourable, or requiring courage. It is the weasel's way. It's the "I was only following orders" way. It's the hope that his fate will somehow be reversed if the last administration is held to be in the wrong. He needs to find out that no matter who he cozies up to, he will never be an officer in the US military again. Because the US military needs people who will stand up before the event and say it's wrong, no people who say afterward "I was only following orders."