A year of warnings

The Abu Ghraib prison was f*cked up as only Bush can do things.

During contentious testimony Friday before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Rumsfeld was questioned by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) about the chain of command inside the prisons and who was in charge of interrogations.

"This is a pretty simple, straightforward question. Who was in charge of the interrogation?" McCain asked. He repeated the question five times as Rumsfeld tried to answer who -- between private contractors working in the prisons and military officials -- was in charge.

In an interview, McKenzie said the 320th was undermanned for their duties at Camp Bucca. There were as few as three or four soldiers guarding 1,000 prisoners in an outdoor compound of tents and barbed wire, he said, adding that prisoners often threw rocks at their outnumbered guards.

To these and other members of the 320th, the Palm Sunday riot showcased just how badly understaffed they were. "We definitely needed more people," McKenzie said. "We kept asking, 'We need more people, we need more people.' We got nothing in return. ... During the riot it was thousands and thousands of rocks raining on the MPs."

An 18-year veteran of the Army and the reserves, McKenzie said the chain of command within the 320th was "absolutely the worst" he ever saw. He said that at one point during the riot, "Our chain of command hid like a bunch of cowards." He said some of their superiors drank excessively "basically on a nightly basis."

For her part, Girman said she warned her superiors numerous times about problems at Camp Bucca. "When we spoke out we were told to shut up," she said.

Sgt. Green and the others said Girman's action probably saved their lives. "If she hadn't told that soldier to shoot and made those prisoners run back," Green said, "it could have been very, very tragic that day."