In a heated 10-minute exchange, MSNBC host Chris Matthews confronts CIA Deputy Director Mike Morrell with the question of why, during the run-up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, he let Vice President Dick Cheney get away with saying Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was building nuclear weapons.

The exchange is a great example of what Hannah Arendt called the “Banality of Evil“–Morrell evades responsibility for the horrific, disastrous invasion and subsequent occupation by saying his job was merely to brief the administration officials, not to correct them when they apparently lied to the public.

In other words, Morrell is not an Edward Snowden.

— Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.

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