WASHINGTON — Army Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba, author of the searing report on U.S. mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners near Baghdad, grew up in racially diverse Hawaii, where he learned early in life that ethnicity need not be a barrier to success.

"Hawaii opened my mind to the capabilities and opportunity in America," Taguba told the publication AsianWeek in 1997, when he became the second Filipino American to attain the rank of brigadier general.

Now one of the Army's top Asian Americans, the 53-year-old Taguba was serving in the low-profile post of deputy commanding general of the 3rd Army when allegations of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib prison began working their way up the military chain of command. The 3rd Army's area of responsibility extends from East Africa through the Middle East and into south-central Asia and includes Iraq and Afghanistan, countries in which prisoner abuse is being investigated.

Within about 10 days, Taguba found himself directing an administrative review that eventually set off a political firestorm in Washington — and condemnation of the U.S. in much of the Islamic world.

Taguba's classified report, leaked to the media, documented widespread "systemic and illegal" abuse of prisoners, such as forcing them to assume degrading positions, photographing them in the nude and subjecting them to illegal interrogation methods. Congress is also investigating.

Taguba's career in the Army spans more than three decades. A native of the Philippines, he is the son of a U.S. Army sergeant, a recipient of the Bronze Star for bravery who was captured by the Japanese in 1942 and escaped from the notorious Bataan Death March.

Taguba and his siblings — two brothers and five sisters — were raised mostly by their mother and grandmother while their father was serving in Germany, Okinawa and South Korea.

"I had an absentee father who was in the Army. But I had an enjoyable childhood," Taguba told AsianWeek, recalling an upbringing that emphasized regard for others.

"It's part of our culture to respect elders, give thanks to the Lord, to be forgiving, and be supportive of your family," he said in that interview.

At age 11, Taguba moved to Hawaii with his family. "Hawaii opened my mind to the capabilities and opportunities in America," he recalled. "The diversity gave me a wide range to seek opportunities and to relate to other people."

Taguba, who was in Kuwait and could not be reached Tuesday, is an ROTC graduate of Idaho State University and received a history degree in 1972. He holds graduate degrees in public administration, international relations, and national security and strategic studies.

His postings have included Germany, where he commanded a tank company of a mechanized infantry division, and South Korea, where he served as executive officer of joint South Korean and U.S. forces.

Before his current assignment, Taguba was acting director of Army staff at the Pentagon. Before that he ran the Army's Community and Family Support Center, which provides social services to soldiers and their families around the globe.

Lessons of a By-the-Book Soldier

His name has been famous for about 10 days, since his report on the abuse of prisoners in Iraq burst into the global spotlight -- but only yesterday did the world get a good look at Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba.

Forthright, terse, direct, Taguba turned out to be a by-the-book soldier worthy of central casting. The man sent to investigate the warped doings at Abu Ghraib appeared to be the straightest arrow imaginable. He didn't just nod to Army rules and regulations; he seemed to have memorized every page of every manual.

Early in Taguba's testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) asked him: "Why do you believe that there should be a separation between the military police and intelligence officers?"

He answered: "Army regulation 190-8, which is a multiservice regulation, establishes the policy in executive agency for detention operations. And there enumerates in paragraph 1-5 the general policy and the treatment of not just [prisoners of war] but civilian internees, retained personnel and other detainees. . . . We also used the M.P.s' doctrine on detention operations, which is Field Manual 3-19.40. And we further referred to . . . Field Manual 3452."

Over the years, this sort of spit-and-polish soldier has been the butt of a million jokes. He's Lt. Peachfuzz on the comics page, Maj. Frank Burns in the reruns. But senators from both parties ultimately found Taguba refreshing for his ability and willingness to give straight answers in plain language and the fewest possible words.

In their hunt for the facts about what happened at Abu Ghraib and why, the senators have heard many half-answers, nonresponses and promises to get back to them. Committee Chairman Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) tried to pin down Stephen Cambone, a senior Pentagon civilian in charge of military intelligence, by asking, "In simple and plain words, how do you think this happened?"

Cambone's answer: "With the caveat, sir, that I don't know the facts, it's, for me, hard to explain."

Warner put the same question to Taguba. "In simple words -- your own soldier's language -- how did this happen?"

Taguba's answer: "Failure in leadership, sir, from the brigade commander on down. Lack of discipline, no training whatsoever and no supervision. Supervisory omission was rampant. Those are my comments."

"Thank you very much," the senator said.

Taguba, 53, is the son of Sgt. Tomas Taguba, a Filipino who knew a thing or two about the abuse of prisoners, having escaped from Japanese custody during the infamous Bataan Death March during World War II. Tomas was serving in the Philippine Scouts when the islands fell, and after his escape spent three years spying on Japanese troop movements and relaying the information to U.S. forces. When Gen. Douglas MacArthur returned victorious, the senior Taguba joined the U.S. military.

His son was born in 1950 in Sampaloc, a district of Manila. Tony Taguba, as the general is known to friends, has told interviewers that he saw little of his father as a boy, but understood that's the way it is for a soldier's family. The Tagubas -- Tony, his two brothers and five sisters -- were upright, pious and disciplined: a well-ordered platoon.

In 1961, the family moved to Hawaii. Years later, when he became only the second Filipino American general, Taguba told AsianWeek that life in the United States "opened my mind to the capabilities and opportunities in America." For him, the Army opened the door to those possibilities. It gave him an education, first through the ROTC program at Idaho State University and later at military and private colleges across the country. He has multiple master's degrees.

He was trained as a commander of armored forces, but his specialty has been managing large support operations -- he was in charge of programs for Army families at one point, and will soon take up the post of deputy assistant secretary for reserve affairs. But though he has not commanded a combat division, Taguba is known as a workhorse, routinely putting in 90-hour weeks on the job.

His wife and two adult children live in Georgia.

Some civilians imagine the military, with its emphasis on following orders, as home to unquestioning robots, but in his testimony, and his biography, Taguba belied this caricature. He learned years ago that the brass is not always right, when his father retired unhonored and uncelebrated. "It took over 54 years to gain my parents their due recognition," the younger Taguba said in a speech in 2001. Finally, on his 80th birthday, Tomas Taguba received a Bronze Star and Prisoner of War medal.

And so the general did not flinch from contradicting one of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's closest aides -- Cambone, who insisted that a Nov. 19, 2003, order placing Abu Ghraib under the "tactical authority" of military intelligence officers did not mean that those officers had authority over the military police guarding the prisoners.

Taguba's report said the opposite. Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) asked the general point-blank if he still felt that way, given that the senior brass has disagreed.

"Yes, sir," Taguba answered.

His testimony drove home the idea that there are legal orders and illegal orders. There is proper training and lax training, effective leadership and weak leadership, clear chains of command and dangerously confused chains. The problems at Abu Ghraib, in his view, stemmed from poor training, weak leadership, confused command -- all resulting in illegal orders.

Taguba gave a good example of the other sort of order in his opening statement.

"As I assembled the investigation team," he said, "my specific instructions to my teammates were clear: maintain our objectivity and integrity throughout the course of our mission in what I considered to be a very grave, highly sensitive and serious situation; to be mindful of our personal values and the moral values of our nation; and to maintain the Army values in all of our dealings; and to be complete, thorough and fair in the course of the investigation.

"Bottom line," he summed up, "we will follow our conscience and do what is morally right."

Researcher Lucy Shackelford contributed to this report.