|
Not that it vanishes the
idiocy of this proposed project, as an intelligence gathering avenue not just a
gov’t sponsored casino, but the papers have reported that this was abandoned
and the next day it was announced that Poindexter would be resigning because of
the credibility issues this latest project created. Now, if we can only believe what we read in print from the
Penatgon…KWC Excerpts
from http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/01/politics/01POIN.html WASHINGTON,
July 31 — The official who oversaw a plan for the Pentagon to run a terrorist
futures-trading market is resigning under pressure, a senior Defense Department
official said today. John
M. Poindexter, a retired rear admiral who was President Ronald Reagan's
national security adviser, is stepping down "within a few weeks," the
defense official said, after the disclosure of a proposal that outraged
lawmakers and embarrassed senior Pentagon officials. The plan was to create an
online trading parlor that would have rewarded investors who forecast terrorist
attacks, assassinations and coups. Defense
Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld did not personally fire Admiral Poindexter, but
the defense official said that Mr. Rumsfeld agreed that the admiral had become
too much of a political lightning rod and that it was time for him to go. 2 But Democrats suggested more shenanigans were
afoot in the Pentagon that had not been uncovered. "The
problem is more than the fact that Admiral Poindexter was put in charge of
these projects," Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, said in a
statement. "The problem is that these projects were just fine with the
administration until the public found out about them." Senators Dorgan and Wyden said the outrage should fuel
momentum to cut off all money to the Terrorism Information Awareness effort.
"Even with today's announcement, the proposed T.I.A. program would still
be the biggest spying and surveillance overreach in America's history, and it
should be shut down," the senators said in a statement Isn’t it bad enough that
Reuters reported that the US Defense budget is driving the US economy?[KWC] The only reason the unemployment numbers are down is because
so many people gave up looking, and the best thing going is defense
contracting? This is good economic
policy? Not even Reagan claimed
that, and Eisenhower denounced it.
See Defense Spending Driving US Economy @ http://reuters.com/financeNewsArticle.jhtml?type=businessNews&storyID=3196574 And, for a revisit to a
theme discussed before on FW, read George Monbiot’s column “Post 9/11 America
is a Religion” @ http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=16516 Natalia
asked: |
