I'm saying it is possible that successes are hidden for real reasons and that we are biased by only seeing the flaws and failures. There may be a morally correct reason for all this nonsense. I'm not saying I agree with what I wrote, but that there is that possibility.

The issue with this idea is that it is a tautology. You can neither prove it nor deny it from the outside where the public sits. You simply do not have the access to the data and cannot reveal it. Those that have pay a heavy price.

What then? You have to take Occam's razor, that the simplest explanation is the correct one. Combine this with Hanlon's razor to not attribute to conspiracy what you can reasonably contribute to stupidity, and you may have an answer that passes the sniff test.