Ashraf Abdullah Ahsy is an Iraq

Iraq

Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

i 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

Abu Ghraib

The city of Abu Ghraib in the Baghdad Governorate of Iraq is located just west of Baghdad's city center, or northwest of Baghdad International Airport. It has a population of 189,000. The old road to Jordan passes through 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

Colonel

Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...

 Thomas Pappas

Thomas Pappas

Thomas M. Pappas is a former United States Army colonel and is currently a high level, civilian intelligence officer with the Army's Training and Doctrine Command at Fort Monroe, Virginia. He was the Brigade Commander of the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade in Iraq during the Abu Ghraib prisoner...

, the senior military intelligence

Military intelligence

Military intelligence is a military discipline that exploits a number of information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to commanders in support of their decisions....

 officer at Abu Ghraib, acknowledges that he ordered the use of dogs in interrogations. Pappas has said he believed that Lieutenant General

Lieutenant General

Lieutenant General is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a Captain General....

 Ricardo Sanchez

Ricardo Sanchez

Ricardo Sanchez is a retired United States Army Lieutenant General and a candidate for the Democratic Party nomination for the Senate election in 2012 for the seat of retiring Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison.-Early life and education:...

 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

FM 34-52 Intelligence Interrogation

The US Army Field Manual on Interrogation, sometimes known by the military nomenclature FM 34-52, is a 177-page manual describing to military interrogators how to conduct effective interrogations while conforming with US and international law...

. 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

Merchant vessel

A merchant vessel is a ship that transports cargo or passengers. The closely related term commercial vessel is defined by the United States Coast Guard as any vessel engaged in commercial trade or that carries passengers for hire...

 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.