Antonio M. Taguba

Major General Antonio M. Taguba, "the officer who led the initial investigation of abuses in the U.S. military prison system in Iraq, was reassigned in May 2004 to Pentagon duty to oversee policies which ware the responsibility of Reserve Affairs.

His new assignment's official title was listed as, "Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Readiness, Training and Mobilization, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs Washington, DC." Taguba's reassignment was not extraordinary and was a part of normal senior staff officer rotations. Since the Army Reserves are a major part of the forces used in the war on terrorism, the assignment was a promotion up into the policy-making ranks of the Defense Department.

General Taguba's prior assignments had included:

• Deputy Commanding general for Support, Third U.S. Army, Fort McPherson, Ga.
• Director of Management and Vice Director of the Army Staff, Washington, D.C.
• Commanding General (South), First U.S. Army, Fort Jackson, S.C. Commanding General, U.S. Army Community and Family Support Center, Alexandria, Va.
• Deputy Commanding General, First United States Army, Fort Jackson
• South Carolina Chief of Staff, United States Army Reserve Command, Fort McPherson, Georgia

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Profiles

Media profiles

• Sunday, May 9, 2004, the New York Times' Douglas Jehl profiled Major General Taguba in "Head of Inquiry on Iraq Abuses Now in Spotlight."

• Wednesday, May 12, 2004, David Von Drehle, writing for The Washington Post, profiled General Taguba in "Lessons of a by-the-Book Soldier. At Hearing, Taguba Provides Straight Talk During a Time of Elusive Truths."

• Joshua Micah Marshall comments on National Public Radio's suggestion on "the possibility that Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba's scathing report on the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison may have been affected in some way by the fact that his father, Sergeant Tomas Taguba, was himself a POW in WWII.

"In fact," he says, "as a prisoner of war, he was part of the notorious 'Bataan Death March'.

"Who knows what played into this one man's role in this story now unfolding. But it's hard to imagine this memory of his father's time as a POW didn't play upon his mind at some point in his investigation."

Military biography

"Major General Taguba was commissioned as an armor officer and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Idaho State University in 1972. He began his career with troop-leading assignments in the 1st Battalion, 72d Armor, 2d Infantry Division, Eight United States Army, Korea. He commanded Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, Staff and Faculty Battalion, Field Artillery School/Center at Fort Sill, OK; Company B, 4th Battalion, 69th Armor at Mainz, Germany; 1st Battalion, 72d Armor, 2d Infantry Division at Camp Casey, Korea; 2d "St. Lo" Brigade, 2d Armored Division, later redesignated as 2d "Warhorse" Brigade, 4th Infantry Division (Mechanized) at Fort Hood, TX; and the United States Army Community and Family Support Center in Alexandria, VA.

"Complimenting his command assignments, Major General Taguba has served as Materiel Systems Analyst, Office of the Chief of Staff, Army, The Pentagon and Executive Officer, C/J5 (Plans and Policy) ROK-US Combined Forces Command, Yongsan, Korea; Chief of Staff, U.S. Army Reserve Command, Fort McPherson, GA; and Assistant Division Commander-Forward, 24th Infantry Division (Mechanized) and Deputy Commanding General (South), First U.S. Army at Fort Jackson, SC.

"Major General Taguba is a graduate of the Armor Officer Basic and Advanced Courses, the United States Army Command and General Staff College, the United States College of Naval Command and Staff and the United States Army War College. He is a graduate of Idaho State University with a BA Degree in History, Webster University with a MA Degree in Public Administration, Salve Regina University with a MA Degree in International Relations and the United States College of Naval Command and Staff with a MA Degree in National Security & Strategic Studies.

"Major General Taguba has been awarded the Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit (with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters), Meritorious Service Medal (with 6 Oak Leaf Clusters), Army Commendation Medal (with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters), Army Achievement Medal (with 1 Oak Leaf Cluster) and the Army Staff Identification Badge."

Resources and articles

Related SourceWatch articles

• Abu Ghraib
• Abu Ghraib: Congressional Investigation
• Taguba Report

External articles

• Antonio Taguba, NNDB.com.
• Antonio Taguba in the Wikipedia.
• Bert Eljera, "Military Officer. Army appoints its second Fil-Am general," Asian Week, August 1-7, 1997.
• Cheryl Corley, "A Profile of Gen. Antonio Taguba. Fellow Filipino Americans Proud of Author of Iraqi Prison Report," All Things Considered/NPR, May 8, 2004.
• "Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba's statement," MSNBC, May 11, 2004.
• "Meet Author Of Prison Abuse Report. Gen. Antonio Taguba's Dad Was Taken Prisoner By Japanese In WWII," Associated Press/CBS News, May 11, 2004.
• Ellen Nakashima, "Taguba Has Filipinos Lauding The Rise of Their Native Son," Washington Post, May 17, 2004.
• "Taguba: No direct order given for abuse. Senators hear conflicting testimony on who was in charge," CNN, June 10, 2004.
• Kevin Drum, "The Real Taguba Report," Political Animal/CBS News, June 17, 2007.
• Adam Howard, "Rumsfeld's Abu Ghraib Cover-Up Revealed," AlterNet, June 17, 2007.
• Seymour M. Hersh, "The General’s Report. How Antonio Taguba, who investigated the Abu Ghraib scandal, became one of its casualties," The New Yorker, June 25, 2007 (issue); Common Dreams, June 17, 2007.