Failure is Not an Option

Gene Kranz is accredited for coining the phrase"Failure is not an option" during the Apollo 13 Mission. Attorney General Eric Holder used that phrase last week as a definition to the efforts that his team will be putting forward to ensure that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) is tried and convicted through our civil due process.

This weekend, David Greggory of Meet The Press suggested in a discussion that this phrase implied that KSM would be tried and executed no matter what the Trial results would be.

When Flight control originally used the phrase, I am sure they had no idea what the final outcome would be as the ground teams scrambled to create a way to clean the remaining supply only using the limited equipment that was available in the orbiter. The Phrase "Failure is Not an Option" is only about the absolute commitment the team would consider when trying to save the lives of the men on Apollo 13.

Holder was not suggesting that KSM would not be provided a fair trial, but only that as his team works for that conviction, to fail would put to risk a greater population of US citizens. With so much at stake,.. I would hope the Attorney General will not consider failing.