Retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez is considering running in Texas as a Democrat for the seat of retiring Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. Sanchez was commander of U.S. forces in Iraq during the height of the abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison. The American Civil Liberties Union and other organizations have long criticized Sanchez for his role in the abuse. In 2006, University of Wisconsin Professor Alfred McCoy, the author of the book A Question of Torture: CIA Interrogation, from the Cold War to the War on Terror, spoke to Democracy Now! about General Sanchez.

Alfred McCoy: “In September of 2003, General Sanchez issued orders, detailed orders, for expanded interrogation techniques beyond those allowed in the U.S. Army Field Manual 3452, and if you look at those techniques, what he’s ordering, in essence, is a combination of self-inflicted pain, stress positions and sensory disorientation.”