www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A18916-2004May11.html
Over the years, this sort of spit-and-polish soldier has been the butt of a million jokes. 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. " Cambone's answer: "With the caveat, sir, that I don't know the facts, it's, for me, hard to explain." "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. 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 US forces. Douglas MacArthur returned victorious, the senior Taguba joined the US 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. 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 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.
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