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More revealing still and damning of his chances for another try at CIA is an article, "Rise of Another CIA Yes Man." That piece was written when Morell was picked to be Gen. David Petraeus's deputy at CIA; it ends with personal comments by intelligence professionals who knew Morell well.
The article also includes citations from Tenet's own memoir, including encomia he threw in Morell's direction, one of which should actually be enough to bar Morell from any future role in intelligence.
In Tenet's book, At the Center of the Storm, he writes that Morell "coordinated the CIA review" of the intelligence used by Secretary of State Colin Powell in his infamous Feb. 5, 2003 speech to the UN Security Council on the threat from (non-existent) WMD in Iraq.
Tenet, who sat directly behind Powell on that day, pointed out that Morell had served as regular briefer to President George W. Bush. It has been reported that, of the CIA's finished intelligence product on Iraq, it was The President's Daily Brief delivered by Morell that most exaggerated the danger from Iraq.
Morell fluttered quickly up CIA ranks as the yes-sir protege of two CIA directors who were, arguably, the worst of them all "Slam-Dunk" Tenet and the-Russians-hacked-so-Trump-won John Brennan. During the presidential campaign of 2016, as Brennan and his accomplices in the National Security State worked behind the scenes to sabotage candidate Donald Trump, Morell dropped any pretense of nonpartisanship which used to be the hallmark of an intelligence professional.
From retirement (but with eyes on the big prize he coveted in a new Democratic administration), Morell openly backed the Democratic candidate in a highly unusual op-ed in The New York Times on August 5, 2016: "I Ran the C.I.A. Now I'm Endorsing Hillary Clinton."
Iraq: the Crucible
In my view, the key gauge in weighing qualifications for a national security position like CIA director is whether a candidate showed good judgment before the misbegotten, calamitous attack on Iraq.
Morell flunks that test outright. Accordingly, he can hardly be expected to be one of the calmer voices in a room of still less experienced fledgling hawks who, to quote Maj. Sjursen, have never "waded through the sights and smells of our indecency" in killing and maiming abroad. With Morell in the room, there would be greater risk of the U.S. getting sucked into still more misadventures overseas.
What did Morell tell Bush about Iraq? In Tenet's memoir, he describes Morell as "the perfect guy" to brief President Bush, noting that Morell and Bush hit it off "almost immediately". Morell added later: "I was President Bush's first intelligence briefer, so I briefed him kind of the entire year of 2001."
"The Entire Year 2001"
So, was Iraqi President Saddam Hussein trying to acquire "weapons of mass destruction" during 2001? The first (and honest) answer was "No" if Powell and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice are to be believed. Here's what they said at the time -- Powell publicly during a speech in Cairo and Rice to CNN five months later.
Powell on Feb. 24, 2001:
"He [Saddam Hussein] has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbors."
Rice told CNN's John King on July 29, 2001:
"We are able to keep arms from him [Saddam Hussein]. His military forces have not been rebuilt."
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