One of the reasons that the Middle East Contrarian exists is because we believe in the importance of alternative analysis. We recall, from our government service days, seeing the intoxicating effect of "group think" leading to intellectual paralysis and a genuine fear of sharing an opinion different from your colleagues. (Essentially, the U.S. taxpayer is paying the CIA to hire, employ, and train Israel political analysts who all think exactly alike.) That has, and will continue to, lead to disasters in American foreign policy -- most notably, the incessant push to create a Palestinian state while the Palestinians have repeatedly shown their unpreparedness for the responsibilities of statehood.
In an
editorial today, the Israeli daily Ma'ariv reminds us of the important lessons drawn by a committee investigating Israel's actions leading up to the Yom Kippur war in 1973, when Israel was caught by surprise by an Arab attack:
'Do not block or prevent different thinking and the presentation of alternative positions,' and 'Encourage pluralism; encourage more than one element to voice assessments and propose policy.'
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