Donal Henahan Quotes
The more disastrous the mishaps the simpler the reviewing task.
Henahan, Donal. The New York Times.
This is a classic example, not only of the view of many primitive Muslims towards women, but it is an example of blaming the victim, a common characteristic of dictatorial, repressive governments and societies. The fundamentalist Muslims often actually believe that it is man’s nature to sexually attack any woman who may stimulate them; therefore, women should be covered at all times to prevent this stimulation of males. This view of men is also very primitive assuming that men have no self control and have no moral responsibility for their actions.
Elements of the Army lied to the family of the dead soldier and the media, and then tried to cover up the lies. Abazaid is one of the few government high officials who was candid about his agency’s failure.
Elements of the Army lied to the family of the dead soldier and the media, and then tried to cover up the lies. Davis was one of the few Congressman who would castigate a scandal caused by the administration of his own party.
An American ambassador and 3 staff had been killed in a terrorist attack on our Consulate in Bengasi, Libya. The CIA and the rest of the American intelligence had initially analyzed the event and gave a report to the Administration “explaining” the event. American officials who did not see the incorrect intelligence report, hypotheses that it was a planned terrorist attack which it appeared to be from the news reports read by amateurs, However, the United Nations Ambassador was given the incorrect report and was asked by the White House to appear on the News Shows, reveal the contents of the report and state that this was a preliminary analysis and subject to change upon further data and analysis. She did that, but many journalists and politicians thought that her version did not comport with the facts. Soon it was discovered that the initial Intelligence report was all wrong and not even close to the truth and the people who guessed from the press reports had gotten it right. Graham and other members of Congress were very angry. So Graham made a public announcement stating the U. N. Ambassador was unfit for a senior job as she either lied to the country of was too naïve to see the truth which so many others had seen. There were dozens of people who might have either made a mistake or were otherwise responsible for the erroneous report which in hindsight appeared very flawed. At the top of the list was the CIA Director who had been America’s best heroic and victorious general who had recently taken the post and was very popular. So Graham and some of his fellow members of Congress called for the head of the one person involved and at a high level who had NOTHING to do with preparing and approving the wrong and misleading intelligence report and did not cast blame on any of the people who made the error or approved it. The quotation is typical of members if Congress who, insist on having the public stage before they know most of the facts, have little idea of how to manage anything, pick the easiest target to attack without worrying top much about the real culprits if any, and the lack of courage enough to blame a very powerful figure who if he did not personally err, the problem occurred on his watch. See {625924} for a view of the courage of Congressmen. Graham was actually a much better than average Senator, at the time but Congress had a 90% disapproval rating with the citizens.
Compare this quotation with {632907}. Most members of Congress had limited management experience and the only solution to an organizational problem was to fire people. The referenced quotation has people fired to trigger reform and change; in this quotation, it is for the purpose of inspiring public trust. Ironically, there is no evidence in the management literature that suggests that firing for either of these reasons will have the desired objective.
Donal Henahan was an American music critic and journalist who had lengthy associations with the Chicago Daily News and The New York Times. With the Times he won the annual Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 1986; he had been a finalist in 1982.