Disturbing Quote of the (Last) Year

"About ten days after 9/11, I went through the Pentagon and I saw Secretary Rumsfeld and Deputy Secretary Wolfowitz. I went downstairs just to say hello to some of the people on the Joint Staff who used to work for me, and one of the generals called me in. He said, 'Sir, you've got to come in and talk to me a second.' I said, 'Well, you're too busy.' He said, 'No, no.' He says, 'We've made the decision we're going to war with Iraq.' This was on or about the twentieth of September. . .

"So I came back to see him a few weeks later, and by that time we were bombing in Afghanistan. I said, 'Are we still going to war with Iraq?' And he said, 'Oh, it's worse than that.' He reached over on his desk. He picked up a piece of paper. And he said, 'I just got this down from upstairs'--meaning the Secretary of Defense's office--'today.' And he said, 'This is a memo that describes how we're going to take out seven countries in five years.' "

--General Wesley Clark
February 27, 2007

As reprinted in Where to Invade Next, Part 3 of a three-part issue of McSweeney's Quarterly Concern (Issue #26). The issue ironically overviews the threat potential of seven countries, including Iran, Pakistan, Syria, and North Korea. Ordering information here.