Nothing the Pentagon has said about the alleged abuses at Abu Ghraib has suggested that the techniques yielded useful information. Experts in military law said yesterday that the reported behavior unquestionably violated international norms on the treatment of prisoners. "It's clearly illegal," said John F. Perry, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. "Whether it's illegal as cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment, or it's illegal as torture, there's really no debate that it crossed the line."

Again, the question is how high up the chain of command will fault be assessed?

The Army's internal investigation, completed in March by Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba, found "clear friction and lack of effective communication" between Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, who was in charge of the accused soldiers, and military intelligence officials operating in the prison. Although Taguba recommended that Karpinski be relieved of command and reprimanded for command failures related to the abuse, she has said responsibility for the abuses should be shared by her superiors, including Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq.

Yesterday some legal specialists backed her argument. "In international law, the standard is not only whether you knew but whether you had reason to know," said Anne-Marie Slaughter, dean of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. "The question is: How far up the chain of command should people have been vigilant about the practices that were going on?"

Several military legal experts also said the Baghdad case may reflect a general loosening in standards for handling detainees stemming from conditions at the U.S. detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where captives from the war on terrorism are held. Indeed, Taguba indicated that the Guantanamo experience has provoked a sharp debate inside the military over the role of military police.

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