Ashraf Abdullah Ahsy



Ashraf Abdullah Ahsy is an Iraqi who was subjected to "extended interrogation techniques" including the use of dogs. Ahsy's story is notable as the Bush administration tried to portray the abuse portrayed in the famous Abu Ghraib prisoner scandal as the unauthorized, after-hours amusement of rogue "psychos". But the dog handlers claim they had explicit instructions from higher officers.

Colonel Thomas Pappas, the senior military intelligence officer at Abu Ghraib, acknowledges that he ordered the use of dogs in interrogations. Pappas has said he believed that Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez had authorized him to order the use of interrogation techniques, like the use of dogs, that were not listed in the permitted techniques in the U.S. Army's Field Manual on interrogation. Pappas said he couldn't recall whether he had ordered dogs used on Ahsy.

The Washington Post reports that Ahsy was considered a "high value detainee", whose interrogation was followed by senior Pentagon officers.

Ahsy was captured, traveling to Iraq on the merchant vessel Manar, on December 9, 2003, while accompanying a shipment of cars his employer was importing. The reasons why Ahsy was considered a high value detainee has not been made public. He was released in October 2004.