Retired general being recruited to run for U.S. Senate seat in Texas as Democrat

[douglas9]

WASHINGTON -- Democrats appear to have recruited retired Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez to run for the U.S. Senate in Texas, setting the stage for the party to field a well-known candidate in the 2012 race to replace retiring Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.

Former Texas Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes, a Democrat, confirmed that Democratic Senate campaign chief Patty Murray, D-Wash., was referring to Sanchez on Thursday when she said Democrats were close to announcing a candidate in Texas.

Sanchez, reached by phone at his San Antonio home, asked where the reports of a Senate run came from and then said, "I can neither confirm nor deny."

Sanchez, the former top military commander in Iraq who was left under a cloud from the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, would not discuss the Senate race. But he did respond to questions about his career and political philosophy.

http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/04/15/3004469/retired-general-being-recruited.html

[dkf]

1. I am beginning to form a distrust of Dems on the military

I thought Republican policy was crazy but the Dems rushing into Libya makes me think they are both the same.

[GKirk]

2. I'd rather see a state legislator run...

...someone with a track record of voting on issues so you have an idea of what you are getting. But it's up to the people in his district to decide.

[Scuba]

4. +1

[koffeekup]

3. Sanchez is not a good sign of who the party is picking for spots

Sanchez 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 Sanchez 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." <2> On May 5, 2006 Sanchez denied ever authorizing interrogators to "go to the outer limits". Sanchez 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." <3>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricardo_Sanchez

How did this guy get past the people?

[douglas9]

5. Abu Ghraib Memory Lane

General Granted Latitude At Prison
Abu Ghraib Used Aggressive Tactics

By R. Jeffrey Smith and Josh White
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, June 12, 2004; Page A01


Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, the senior U.S. military officer in Iraq, borrowed heavily from a list of high-pressure interrogation tactics used at the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and approved letting senior officials at a Baghdad jail use military dogs, temperature extremes, reversed sleep patterns, sensory deprivation, and diets of bread and water on detainees whenever they wished, according to newly obtained documents.

The U.S. policy, details of which have not been previously disclosed, was approved in early September, shortly after an Army general sent from Washington completed his inspection of the Abu Ghraib jail and then returned to brief Pentagon officials on his ideas for using military police there to help implement the new high-pressure methods.

The documents obtained by The Washington Post spell out in greater detail than previously known the interrogation tactics Sanchez authorized, and make clear for the first time that, before last October, they could be imposed without first seeking the approval of anyone outside the prison. That gave officers at Abu Ghraib wide latitude in handling detainees.

Unnamed officials at the Florida headquarters of the U.S. Central Command, which has overall military responsibility for Iraq, objected to some of the 32 interrogation tactics approved by Sanchez in September, including the more severe methods that he had said could be used at any time in Abu Ghraib with the consent of the interrogation officer in charge.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35612-2004Jun11.html

[The Philosopher]

6. The wiki

doesn't make him sound good. What worries me even more than he seems to blame the press for losing his job (rather than owning up to it) is "failure of communication" between him and Bremer. It could be Bremer's fault, or both, but it makes me worried that Sanchez is a strong-headed, self-centered person who does what he wants despite what others suggest, say, or even want.

I guess DSCC didn't actually want to look hard enough for a candidate here in Texas. That's okay, they don't have to live with the results of their work.

(Unfortunately...)

[Adsos Letter]

7. Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq by Thomas E. Ricks

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=iraq&x=0&y=0

I thought there was also a FRONTLINE documentary called The Lost Year in Iraq, or something similar, which highlighted the Sanchez/Bremer policies which made a bad situation infinitely worse; couldn't locate it on the Fronline site, though.

On Edit: found it on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qw7SSAoHk3U

[crickets]

8. "as Democrat" - So, he's not one now?

The meat of the matter is further into the article, which gives mixed messages about Sanchez' politics. As for the DSCC, this is a unapologetically naked ploy to capture the Hispanic vote. Specifically, "the conservative Hispanic businessman."

"Several congressional Hispanic Democrats, including Reps. Henry Cuellar of Laredo and Charlie Gonzalez of San Antonio, told the Star-Telegram that they welcome Sanchez's likely entry into the race."

Both are members of the New Democrat Coalition--an affiliate of the DLC.

I guess the DSCC figures they've found a viable 'centrist' candidate. Yippee.

[unhappycamper]

9. Great. Now the Democratic party is going to have its own torture guy?

Right wingers, conservatives and whack jobs have been appointed to the Obama Administration. It appears we're going to be adding torture guys to the Democratic Party. This 'looking forward' crap is getting to be a bit much.

[HereSince1628]

10. I'm not in Texas...so I'll limit what I say...

That's a mistake as big as DALLAS!

[bluetex]

11. PUB's own this state...

Be better off to find another RINO like Kay Bailey...


...than some Democrat-out-of-convenience.

[xchrom]

12. Sigh. Nt

[Kingofalldems]

13. Kick and Recommend.

[WinkyDink]

14. Wait. Abu Ghraib? Maybe the TX Democrats should ponder some more.