LEAKED

Leaked Emails: Condi Rice Criticized Rumsfeld’s Handling of Iraq War

“If Don and the Pentagon had done their job...”

In personal emails sent in 2015, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice criticized former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and his handling of the Iraq War. The emails were sent to another former secretary of State, Colin Powell. The private messages were leaked by a website believed to have ties to Russia. Rice and Powell were discussing comments made by journalist Bob Woodward in which he took issue with Rumsfeld’s assertion that he was always weary about establishing a democracy in Iraq. “First, we didn’t invade Iraq to bring democracy—but we overthrew Saddam, we had a view of what should follow,” Rice wrote to Powell. “If Don and the Pentagon had done their job (after claiming the right to lead post-war rebuilding—things might have turned out differently).” She later said Rumsfeld should “just stop talking” because he “puts his foot in his mouth every time.”