On April 18, 2011, it was reported that Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez might be running for the US Senate seat in Texas being vacated before the next election. On May 11, 2011, Sanchez filed the paperwork to confirm his intent to run for the seat. He has the support of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC). A spokesman for the DSCC stated that Sanchez would be a “strong candidate” because of his “proven commitment to our nation’s security.” 

Lt. Gen. Sanchez was the senior military officer at Abu Ghraib in 2004, the year that evidence of the inhumane torture of Iraqi prisoners began to surface. These prisoners were not even proven to be legitimate threats when they were caught and imprisoned. Photos and testimonies of prisoners record the physical, psychological, and sexual abuse committed by American soldiers in the prison.

The army report of the scandal acknowledged that Sanchez had authorized the use of dogs, isolation, sensory deprivation, and the stripping of prisoners. These authorizations were violations of army rules. That officers subordinate to Sanchez took these instructions to an extreme, acting on their own without official sanction, elevated simple violations of rules to “grave breaches” of the Geneva Conventions, which constitute war crimes.

The army report found that senior officers, such as Sanchez, were responsible, though not culpable, for the behavior of their subordinates. If he was aware of the torture, he didn’t act to stop it; and if he wasn’t aware of it, it was a lack of critical oversight on his part, especially considering that the torture occurred openly in cells and in the halls of the cellblocks, as well as behind closed doors, as the photos provide proof.

The same man in command at a prison at which these atrocities occurred is now running for senator, supported by those same Democrats who condemned him for his actions in Iraq. He was cleared by an Inspector General report in 2005, yet he was not supported by Senate Democrats in 2008 when the Bush administration wanted to nominate him for a fourth star. Until recently, Democrats had, in holding him responsible for his role in the Abu Ghraib tortures, upheld the idea that the torture of prisoners is inhumane and morally reprehensible.

Now, with the support of these same Democrats, Sanchez is running for Senator of Texas. The same man who allowed illegal torture in the name of Americans, in the name of national security, may occupy a seat in the Senate.

Disregard for a moment the fact that illegal torture in violation of international law occurred on his watch. How does a military man with no apparent position on important social issues, known for his questionable leadership in Iraq, come to be a viable possibility for representing 25 million people living in this country? As senator, he would have to not only represent his constituents on foreign policy, but also on domestic, state, local issues that have very little to do with the military. It is critical to hear his detailed social and political agenda to determine if he is qualified for this position.

 

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