“The next day [January 14, 2004], Gen. John Abizaid, commander of all U.S. forces in the region, was on the phone to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. ‘General Abizaid informed the leadership within hours of the incident,’ said a senior Pentagon official. Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, the military’s spokesman in Iraq, also called the Pentagon, though with more alarming words. ‘He said, “We’ve got a really bad situation,” recalled one official, who like others requested anonymity. ‘The evidence is damaging and horrific,’ ‘We’ve got a really bad situation…’

 

“Abizaid talked daily with Rumsfeld about Iraq, and the prison investigation likely came up often, officials said. Top Pentagon leaders, such as Rumsfeld and Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, as well as President Bush were kept aware of the situation, said Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on the CBS Early Show yesterday.” (Tom Bowman, “

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