How High Does It Go?

By Mitch Frank

While Pentagon officials insisted the abuses at Abu Ghraib were the work of seven individuals acting on their own, the rest of Washington looked for possible culprits further up the chain of command. Did key leaders unwittingly encourage--or deliberately order--the reservists to violate the Geneva Conventions in order to soften up detainees for interrogation?

--By Mitch Frank

GEOFFREY MILLER

The former commander of the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay visited Iraqi jails last summer to offer advice on intelligence collection. He recommended adoption of many practices used at Guantanamo. Military intelligence, he urged, should be put in charge of the Abu Ghraib facility, and MPs serving as guards there should "set the conditions" for interrogations. The Pentagon put Miller in command of all prisons and interrogations in Iraq last month, giving him the task of reforming the system.

STEPHEN CAMBONE

The Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, who has no authority to issue military orders, encouraged Miller's trip. Some on Capitol Hill, where Cambone is unpopular, think he could take the blame if the scandal widens. But Cambone may be insulated. He has long been a key aide to Donald Rumsfeld, spearheading some of Rumsfeld's top causes--missile defense, modernizing the Pentagon and unifying intelligence operations--despite having relatively little intelligence experience.

RICARDO SANCHEZ

The commander of U.S. forces in Iraq adopted some of Miller's suggestions last fall as military-intelligence officers took charge of a section of Abu Ghraib. MPs were told to help interrogators "set the conditions." Sanchez tweaked some of Miller's suggestions because Iraqi prisoners, unlike those at Guantanamo, are covered by the Geneva Conventions. The Pentagon says the more severe tactics it allowed--like putting prisoners into stressful positions--were never officially used.