Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, Donald Rumsfeld, Ricardo Sanchez & Interrogation Techniques

Donald Rumsfeld liked Major General Geoffrey Miller because his chief concern was to get results from the detainees he questioned for intelligence. His harsh interrogation techniques at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba helped him to gain inside intelligence from the prisoners held there. Although rumors of prisoner abuse had plagued Miller's term as head of prison operations, the presidential administration backed up his reiterations that prisoners were treated humanely. However, critics and others disagreed.

Many FBI officials had visited Guantanamo Bay, and had written about their observations of extreme torture and abuse of prisoners. Once these official government documents leaked, the Bush administration acknowledged that Rumsfeld had approved such techniques. The techniques that Rumsfeld approved included forced nudity, exposure to extreme light, darkness, heat or coldness, sexual humiliation and intimidation by dogs, among many others. In August 2003, just 8 short months after Rumsfeld allowed Miller to use harsher interrogation techniques at Guantanamo, he sent the Major General to Iraq to help the interrogation situation there. Officially, the Presidential Administration said that the Geneva Conventions applied to Abu Ghraib. What happened off the record was a completely different story. 

Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld tours 

Abu Ghraib with Maj. Gen. Miller

Maj. Gen. Miller suggested the implementation of harsher techniques at Abu Ghraib to pull intelligence from detainees. After Maj. Gen. Miller's visit, Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, head of all military operations in Iraq, issued a memorandum that approved extreme interrogation techniques for prisoners in Iraq. A month later, Sanchez withdrew some of the techniques he had just approved. With the policies changing back and forth so quickly, many soldiers became confused about which techniques could and couldn't be used against the prisoners. Much like the techniques used at Guantanamo, forced nudity, sexual humiliation, intimidation by dogs and prolonged standing were used. The prisoners were made to wear sand bags over their head so that they were unaware of what or who was around them. Many were handcuffed to bars and windows, naked and backwards, and made to stand there for days until they gave up scraps of intelligence. The problem was many of the prisoners had no terroristic intelligence.