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The Country List Kept Off the Wall: Clark's Seven Countries, Silence, and Warning Labels

The story​

Retired General Wesley Clark, former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, said on Democracy Now on 2 March 2007 that after 9/11 he was shown a Pentagon memo describing a plan to "take out seven countries in five years": Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and, last, Iran (The Post-9/11 Pentagon Country List). In March 2026, with the war on Iran under way, one retelling drew about 35,000 views: "In 2007, Wesley Clark said that the Pentagon had a plan to attack Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Iran. We ended up doing much of that, one by one" (Elizabeth Lane, 24 March 2026). The scorecard: Seven-Country Scorecard.

How it was kept off the fire​

  • Silence. In the research for this page, no major U.S. or Israeli news desk published a follow-up on the memo during the Iran war. The object never came near the fire.
  • Warning labels. Users reported that X showed "this link may be unsafe" warnings on some articles about Greater Israel; one told readers to click past such a warning on a Global Research piece (Captain Dan Hanley, 30 June 2024). X has done this before: in 2020 it blocked links to the New York Post laptop story, "posting warnings that it may be 'unsafe'" (Matt Taibbi's Twitter Files, as reposted by Era of Light).
  • Fear. A YouTube host who turned against the war said he would not name the country that receives about $3 billion a year in U.S. military aid "because they'll shadow ban me" (transcript posted by @mrmikeman55, 3 July 2026).
  • The label. Posts connecting the war to Greater Israel are answered with charges of antisemitism, as documented on Fear of the Antisemitism Label. The Greater Israel map is not a slogan invented by critics; it is discussed by Israeli officials in their own words (Greater Israel).

The general's own turn​

In July 2026 Clark was described on CNN calling for a total blockade of Iran, "make the blockade 100% around Iran"; the poster notes Clark now chairs energy and defense consulting and investment firms (AJ Signal, 26 July 2026). The 2007 recording is a record of what he said then about a plan that has since largely been carried out.

Where to find it​

The broadcast and transcript are online; see The Wesley Clark "Seven Countries" Clip and Clark's Retellings, 2003 to 2026. Watch it yourself. That is better than arguing about whether it was hidden.

Sources​

Status: Wesley Clark: Alive. Matt Taibbi: Alive.

Last Updated: 2026-09-26

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