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The
Michigan Socialist | News | National
'Terrorism market' allows
glimpse
into Pentagon's true character
By
MATT ERARD
The Michigan Socialist
"ARE MORE PEOPLE going to be killed? You bet,"
said Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, in reference to the
U.S. occupation of Iraq, at a July 14 press conference.
At the time of the Pentagon leader's remark,
few knew that such an ill-natured comment should be taken
literally. However, betting on such events is exactly what the
Pentagon was proposing at the time.
This was shown with the Bush administration's
request for $8 million, to begin the funding of its new
terrorism futures market, named the Policy Analysis Market
(PAM).
PAM differs greatly from other futures markets
seen in the past for things such as ticket sales, oil prices,
and election outcomes.
As the greatest purveyor of bloodshed in the
world, could the Pentagon be expected to base its new market
of predictions on anything other than international violence?
With a great deal of shock and very little
surprise, the answer is simply no.
PAM would allow investors to bet on terrorist
attacks and assassinations within Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Israel,
Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Syria, as well as the consequences of
United States involvement within those nations.
Featured examples included the overthrow of
King Abdullah in Jordan and the assassination of Yasser
Arafat. Investors who bet on correct predictions would make
profits from the money of those who bet on predictions that
turn out to be incorrect.
Although officially a market for Middle East
bloodshed, the PAM website also included a North Korean
missile attack as an example, extending the potential for
profit from violence to right here at home.
PAM was to be a joint program of the Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), parent organization
of the Total Information Awareness program, now called
Terrorism Information Awareness (TIA).
TIA would allow the government to tap into
computer databases to spy on the medical, credit, travel and
financial records of American citizens under the guise of
"preventing terrorism."
Both the Total Information Awareness program
and the Policy Analysis Market were to be headed by former
National Security Adviser and convicted felon John
Poindexter.
Poindexter was an instrumental figure in the
Iran-Contra scandal, in which the Reagan administration
secretly and illegally sold weapons to Iran and aided the
import of cocaine into the United States, in order to fund the
overthrow of the democratically-elected leftist Sandinista
government in Nicaragua.
Poindexter was convicted on five felony counts
including lying to Congress and obstructing the investigation
of Special Prosecutor Lawrence Walsh.
Poindexter's convictions were later overturned
on a technicality by a three-judge federal panel.
Most troublesome about the proposed market is
that it would create a private, profitable interest in
terrorism both at home and abroad.
Individuals with special knowledge about
future terrorist attacks would find it in their best interest
to keep quiet or even facilitate attacks if they are likely to
make money on them.
According to PAM's website, speculators would
remain anonymous and governmental agencies would not have
access to the identities and funds of traders.
Although the website also states that
government agencies are not allowed to participate the
program, the undisclosed identities of many working in both
American and international intelligence combined with the
anonymity that the program offers, creates a system where
terrorists ranging from al-Qaeda to the CIA could participate
freely, with both prior knowledge and control over the
results.
While not yet proven to be linked, due to the
failure of the FBI, Securities and Exchange Commission, and
Secret Service to publish reports on their promised
investigations, the rush of trades on financial markets in the
two weeks before September 11, 2001, indicating prior
knowledge of the attacks, serve as only a microcosm of the
situation PAM would likely create.
Although the plug was pulled on PAM (at least
for now) after its public exposure by Senators Byron Dorgan
(D-ND) and Ron Wyden (D-OR), only days before registering was
set to begin, the fact that PAM made it as far as it did is a
perfect demonstration of the thing that surrounds nearly every
action taken and move made in the name of "national
security."
It is neither safety nor liberation, neither
freedom nor patriotism; it is profit making.
It is undeniable that the Pentagon, from its
inception, has been the world’s largest generator of corporate
welfare. During "peacetime," wartime, and post-Bush
never-ending wartime, the Pentagon serves as the base for
nearly every element of the advanced-technology industry in
the United States.
PAM, although shockingly real, can best be
seen as a satire of the maternal relationship between the
Pentagon and the wealthy private sector, and the guiding force
of profits behind everything that the Pentagon
does.
While terrorism speculation markets are only a
new leaf in the Pentagon's unending crusade to enrich the
wealthy, it should serve as a prime example to all working
people of whose interests it really has at
heart. | 
