an alarm that didn't alarm

"Alarm bells should have gone off when everyone believes the same thing. No one stood up and said, `Let's examine the footings for these conclusions.' I think you ought to have a place for contrarian views in the system."

that's what Dr. David Kay said when he spoke about the c.i.a. as they went about gathering intelligence on iraq and their supposed weapons of mass destruction, the major reason why we went to war. all of the intelligence agencies within in the united states believe the iraqis have or had illicit weapons of mass destruction, which Dr. Kay now says were largely abandoned in the 1990's.

nasa's mars exploration program, an organization overhauled after the crash of the polar lander due to a mix-up of metrics and inches, should be the model for the c.i.a.'s reorganization. in the new mars organization, questions are good. even stupid questions.

when everyone believes the same thing, alarm bells should go off.

np: God Bless The Child from the album Verve Jazz Masters 12 by Billie Holiday