Major General Antonio Taguba, the author of a devastating report into abuses by American soldiers in Iraq, is a first generation Filipino immigrant whose father was tortured by the Japanese during the Second World War.

General Taguba was born in Manila in 1950 and his family moved to Hawaii when he was 11. After graduating from school in 1968, he enrolled at the Idaho State University where he acquired a degree in history in 1972.

He joined the US Army a short time afterwards, following in the footsteps of his father, Thomas, and generations of Filipinos who served by virtue of their country's status as a former US colony.

His father was captured and tortured by the Japanese when they invaded the Philippines in 1941.

After Thomas Taguba retired as a staff sergeant, General Taguba was involved in a 20 year campaign to have his father’s service properly recognised by the US Army.

General Taguba said his father had left the Army "without so much as a retirement ceremony to thank him for those 20 years of hard work and faithful service".

General Taguba trained as an armoured officer and rose up the tranks to become an acting director of the army staff during the Iraq war. He is the second highest ranking soldier of Filipino origin in the US Army.

He was appointed by Lieutenant General David McKiernan at the end of January to inquire into the activities of the 800th Military Police Brigade at Abu Ghraib prison.

His report, which he issued in March, threatens the future of Donald Rumsfeld, the Secretary of Defence, who confessed to not having read it until pictures of the abuse appeared on CBS last month.

General Taguba's report accused US soldiers of "egregious acts and grave breaches of international law" and he chronicled a long list of "sadistic, blatant and wanton criminal abuses".

According to The New York Times, friends say his actions in exposing such abuses are typical of a man who sees the Army as a noble calling.

"If you want the truth, he’s going to tell you the truth," one US army general said. "He’s not bullied, he’s a stand-up guy."

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