'Top US general okayed pressure tactics on Iraqi prisoners'

US Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez approved letting senior officials at Abu Ghraib "use military dogs, temperature extremes, reversed sleep patterns, sensory deprivation, and diets of bread and water on detainees whenever they wished," according to the Post, citing US government documents.

Sanchez borrowed heavily from a list of interrogation tactics used at the detention center at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, according to the Post.

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In early September 2003 Sanchez authorized prison officials to use the pressure tactics without having to seek authorization from higher-ranking officials outside the prison.

However military officials at the Tampa, Florida headquarters of the US Central Command raised objections to 32 measures that Sanchez had approved.

By October 2004 those measures were ended, and prison officials were to obtain Sanchez's direct approval to use the remaining authorized pressure tactics, the Post reported.

Sanchez will be replaced by a four-star general -- possibly General George Casey, vice chief of staff of the army -- when the transitional Iraqi government takes office on June 30, senior Pentagon officials said in late May.

Pentagon officials said earlier that Sanchez's future would likely be on hold until the investigations are completed, emphasizing it was not a matter of punishment but of command accountability.