Morell: ‘Environmental Damage’ One Reason US Avoided Hitting Islamic State Oil Wells

Former CIA Director Mike Morell stated that there “seemed” to be a determination not to hit oil wells controlled by ISIS, partially because such strikes would create “environmental damage” on Tuesday’s broadcast of PBS’ “Charlie Rose.”

Morrell said, “So, prior to Paris, there seemed to be a judgment, right? I don’t sit in the Sit. Room anymore, but there seems to be — there seemed to have been a judgment that, look, we don’t want to destroy these oil tankers because that’s infrastructure that’s going to be necessary to support the people when ISIS isn’t there anymore, and it’s going to create environmental damage, and we didn’t go after oil wells, actually hitting oil wells that ISIS controls, because we didn’t want to do environmental damage, and we didn’t want to destroy that infrastructure, right?”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett

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