Military Mentors Discreetly Hired, Fired

WASHINGTON, Dec. 26, 2009— -- The Pentagon's Joint Forces Command fired a former top U.S. commander in Iraq from his role as paid adviser to the military after he publicly criticized the Bush administration's conduct of the Iraq war, according to interviews with command officials and e-mails.

Retired lieutenant general Ricardo Sanchez, who led U.S. forces in Iraq from June 2003 to June 2004, became a senior mentor for the Joint Forces Command in 2006. Sanchez worked 18 days as a mentor in 2007, according to the command. At the current rate of about $1,600 per day, his pay would have totaled $28,800.

Sanchez's ouster underscores how military mentors are hired and fired outside of public scrutiny. They typically are retained by the military through contracts with third parties, which means their names don't often surface in public records. Joint Forces Command uses a contractor because it is more efficient than negotiating individual contracts for each training mission, spokeswoman Kathleen Jabs said.

In an investigation published last month, USA TODAY reported that the military employs at least 158 senior mentors, about 80 percent of whom also have connections to various defense contractors. The revelations prompted Defense Secretary Robert Gates to order a Pentagon review last week. The Senate Homeland Security Committee also has begun an investigation, led by Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.

Sanchez was the U.S. commander in Iraq in April 2004 when a scandal erupted over the treatment of Iraqi detainees by troops at the Abu Ghraib prison. After his Iraq service, Sanchez led the Army's V Corps, based in Germany, though Sanchez has said Abu Ghraib effectively ended his career. In an Oct. 12, 2007, speech in Washington, about a year after he began working as a military mentor, Sanchez blamed the Bush administration for what he called the "nightmare" then unfolding in Iraq.