Former CIA chief: Obama didn't hit ISIS oil fields to save the environment

By Becket Adams, Becket Adams

Published December 20, 2015

The former CIA director under President Obama revealed this week that the White House held off on bombing Islamic State-controlled oil fields and tankers because the administration feared that the subsequent oil spills would harm the environment.

Former director Mike Morell's comment came during an interview Tuesday evening with PBS' Charlie Rose.

"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," Morell said.

He added that the Obama administration was also afraid that damaging oil infrastructure would ultimately hurt the Syrian people.