# After 9/11: A General’s Account of the Iraq War Decision and Seven-Country Memo

- Original post: https://www.twitter.com/i/status/2029837939551658336
- Source account: [@Glenn_Diesen](https://x.com/Glenn_Diesen)
- Source language: English
- Duration: 1:01
- Published: 2026-11-13
- Canonical URL: https://www.translate.mom/transcript/9FnU9cWe58Bg/en/after-9-11-a-general-s-account-of-the-iraq-war-decision-and-seven-country-memo

## Transcript

[0:00](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/9FnU9cWe58Bg/en/after-9-11-a-general-s-account-of-the-iraq-war-decision-and-seven-country-memo) About 10 days after 9/11, I went through the Pentagon, and I saw Secretary Rumsfeld.

[0:04](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/9FnU9cWe58Bg/en/after-9-11-a-general-s-account-of-the-iraq-war-decision-and-seven-country-memo?t=4) And one of the generals called me, and he said, "Sir, you gotta come in and talk to me a second." I said, "Well, you're too busy."

[0:08](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/9FnU9cWe58Bg/en/after-9-11-a-general-s-account-of-the-iraq-war-decision-and-seven-country-memo?t=8) He said, "No, no." He says, "We've made the decision we're going to war with Iraq."

[0:12](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/9FnU9cWe58Bg/en/after-9-11-a-general-s-account-of-the-iraq-war-decision-and-seven-country-memo?t=12) I said, "We're going to war with Iraq? Why?"

[0:14](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/9FnU9cWe58Bg/en/after-9-11-a-general-s-account-of-the-iraq-war-decision-and-seven-country-memo?t=14) He said, "I don't know." He said, "I guess they don't know what else to do."

[0:19](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/9FnU9cWe58Bg/en/after-9-11-a-general-s-account-of-the-iraq-war-decision-and-seven-country-memo?t=19) I said, "Well, did they find some information connecting Saddam to Al-Qaeda?"

[0:22](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/9FnU9cWe58Bg/en/after-9-11-a-general-s-account-of-the-iraq-war-decision-and-seven-country-memo?t=22) He said, "No, no." He says, "There's nothing new that way.

[0:25](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/9FnU9cWe58Bg/en/after-9-11-a-general-s-account-of-the-iraq-war-decision-and-seven-country-memo?t=25) They've just made the decision to go to war with Iraq."

[0:28](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/9FnU9cWe58Bg/en/after-9-11-a-general-s-account-of-the-iraq-war-decision-and-seven-country-memo?t=28) He said, "I guess it's like we don't know what to do about terrorists, but we've got a good military, and we can take down governments."

[0:34](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/9FnU9cWe58Bg/en/after-9-11-a-general-s-account-of-the-iraq-war-decision-and-seven-country-memo?t=34) So, I came back to see him a few weeks later, and by that time, we were bombing in Afghanistan.

[0:39](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/9FnU9cWe58Bg/en/after-9-11-a-general-s-account-of-the-iraq-war-decision-and-seven-country-memo?t=39) I said, "Are we still going to war with Iraq?"

[0:40](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/9FnU9cWe58Bg/en/after-9-11-a-general-s-account-of-the-iraq-war-decision-and-seven-country-memo?t=40) And he said, "Oh, it's worse than that."

[0:41](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/9FnU9cWe58Bg/en/after-9-11-a-general-s-account-of-the-iraq-war-decision-and-seven-country-memo?t=41) He said, "I just got this down from upstairs," meaning the Secretary of Defense office, "today."

[0:45](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/9FnU9cWe58Bg/en/after-9-11-a-general-s-account-of-the-iraq-war-decision-and-seven-country-memo?t=45) And he said, "This is a memo that describes how we're gonna take out seven countries in five years, starting with Iraq, and then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and finishing off Iran."

[0:55](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/9FnU9cWe58Bg/en/after-9-11-a-general-s-account-of-the-iraq-war-decision-and-seven-country-memo?t=55) I said, "Is it classified?" He said, "Yes, sir."

[0:58](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/9FnU9cWe58Bg/en/after-9-11-a-general-s-account-of-the-iraq-war-decision-and-seven-country-memo?t=58) I said, "Well, don't show it to me."