THE IMAGES OF MISTREATMENT and outright sadism that emerged from the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq last year shocked America and the world. The cruel acts illustrated by the photos reflected poorly upon the U.S. military: How, many wondered, could America win support for the war on terrorism–a war that is as much about ideas as it is military objectives–if its soldiers treated the enemy in such a way?

A new Frontline documentary which airs tonight attempts to answer this question and others prompted by the scandal surrounding Abu Ghraib incidents and the ongoing debate over treatment of detainees in Guantanamo Bay and other makeshift prison camps run by U.S. forces worldwide. More than an indictment of the overall U.S. strategy to defeat terrorism, the documentary, dubbed “The Torture Question,” paints a complex picture of incompetent soldiers faced with pressure from superiors and confusion over how to properly deal with captives in a war with few historical precedents.