Ex-CIA Chief: Obama Refused Strikes on ISIS Oil Wells Fearing 'Environmental Damage'

Former CIA Acting Director Mike Morell says the reason why the Obama administration wouldn't bomb and destroy ISIS oil wells was out of concern about "environmental damage."

Discussing President Barack Obama's thinking prior to the Nov. 13 ISIS attacks in Paris, Morell, who served as acting director twice while he was the agency's deputy director, tells interviewer Charlie Rose there's "now a sense of urgency that there wasn’t before."

In the interview, Morell tells Rose that Obama’s concern for environmental hazards and damage were the perceived reasons why the president wouldn't pull the trigger on bombing ISIS oil wells.

Noting he's not in the situation room any longer, Morell nevertheless reflects on Obama's policies, saying:

"Prior to Paris…there seemed to have been a judgement 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," he said.

"And we didn’t go after oil wells. We didn’t actually hit any oil wells that ISIS controls because we didn’t want to do environmental damage and we didn’t want to destroy that infrastructure…

"So, now we’re hitting oil in trucks…Maybe you get to the point where you say we have to hit oil wells. So those are the kind of tough decisions you have to make.”

Asked if he thinks the rules of engagement are too restrictive, Morell responded: "Yeah. I think so."

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