When al Qaeda terrorists attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, Michael Morell was with President George W. Bush at an elementary school in Florida as the CIA’s daily briefer. He rose to become the CIA Acting Director and served Pres. Obama.
Now that he’s left Government Service, he’s written a book, and this interview is an opportunity to explain some things that happened in Iraq and elsewhere.
Morell admitted the CIA provided extremely flawed intelligence information to e.g. Secretary Colin Powell, leading him to lie to the United Nations. His book, The Great War of Our Time: The CIA’s Fight Against Terrorism — From al Qa’ida to ISIS, contains an apology for that flawed information.
Morell explained his version of the Bush43 Administration discussions leading to the illegal Rendition program, and the illegal Torture (a.k.a. Enhanced Interrogation) program. As we might expect, he rationalizes away these programs as having been justified.
He claimed the Justice Department gave them enough legal cover for those programs that he is comfortable defending his guys that their actions were legal.
These programs were, he said, conducted under approval and support from the President, the National Security staff, the Justice Department, and Congress members who were briefed.
The video includes a pointer to Sen. Feinstein’s speech from the Senate floor denying what Morell said.
