Article: Do 17 Intelligence Agencies Make Us More Intelligent?

Spy vs. Spy
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Is intelligence intelligent? It's hard to say.
Our 17 agencies are out there to prey
On bubbling secrets our fellow man holds,
Excepting the fact that wifey him scolds,
Or coming together they publicly say,
Mr. V. Putin our elections did sway.
.
Or was it just four, and those four cherry-picked?
'Cause just among four the conclusion sweet-clicked,
And having more cooks, well, you spoil the broth,
The point being anyhow to make pundits froth,
And assure John Q. that Putin prefers Trump,
Such putty compared to that snarling blond frump.
.
Seventeen! Is our intelligence that low?
(And seventeen more in the column Can't-Show),
It seems to be thus, you can tell from Af-Pak,
Where eighteen years' smarts have netted but jack,
Nor is Iraq an extraordinary success,
Nor luckless sad places that we've left a mess.
.
It's said the Company chucks tons of intel,
Great stuff it can't use or on Ebay sell,
But which keeps employed folks who top their class list,
Folks you don't want to see left-raising a fist,
But applauding-abetting each new control,
And to whom al Qaeda is one great console.
.
'Cause good econ-times, well, they come and they go,
But with terr'ists, God bless 'em, the work's never slow,
We might nail bin Laden, send X to Guantan',
Do in ISIS and bring a smile to Prez Don,
But on the horiz' here comes a new baddie,
Grinning through beard, saying "Bro', who's your daddy?"