Santa Fe New Mexican (New Mexico)

                             July 31, 2003 Thursday

SECTION EDITORIALS; Pg. A-7

LENGTH 505 words

HEADLINE DR. STRANGELOVE CAUGHT IN BIZARRE BETTING PARLOR

BODY

   It's the kind of dog-day story you'd have hoped was only a joke -- but it
wasn't The Bush administration has been caught in an attempt to create a money
market in human misery.

   The Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Agency, which gave a grateful nation
the Total Information Awareness system for electronically tracking American
citizens' every move, has spent half a million dollars, and was seeking $3
million more, to establish what it calls a Policy Analysis Market program. It
would have offered, among other things, "futures contracts" on terrorist
attacks, political assassinations, military coups and the like.

   Only when Senate Democrats got wind of this repugnance was something done On
Tuesday, talking as if butter wouldn't melt in his mouth, Deputy Defense
Secretary Paul Wolfowitz airily admitted that he'd heard, or read in the papers,
about such a thing. With a wave of his hand, Wolfowitz declared the program
dead. In his heart of hearts, he's hoping that was the end of any talk about it,
too.

   He's kidding himself; the death-and-destruction pool will be among the many
issues of Campaign 2004.

   The scheme would have been a sophisticated version of the office pool Pick
the world leader most likely to be deposed or murdered, name the next place to
be blasted from the face of the earth, and guess which gang of sociopaths will
do it. Guess what nation will start the next war. The odds, presumably, would
depend on your geographic or ethnic choice; the more unlikely the target, the
wealthier you might become by choosing him, her or it.

   And what does this sports wire for the weird have to do with national
defense? Well, went the reasoning, a rash of bets on an assassination or a
terrorist strike might lead to information about such a thing actually happening
-- and give the Forces of Good a chance to prevent the evil occurrence.

   Never mind that such a betting pool would, in effect, be putting a bounty on
certain illustrious individuals or making a target of some noted building or
grand event. Making money on murder and mayhem is the American way, isn't it?

   "Harebrained" was the understated description of this scheme from the
understated Jeff Bingaman. New Mexico's Democratic senator is calling for a
lobotomy of sorts on the liebre behind such a repugnant proposition.

   Bugs Bunny? No, he's too sensible. How 'bout Doctor Strangelove -- or his
real-life version, Admiral/Doctor John Poindexter?

   No. It couldn't be -- but it was The Reagan-era autor intelectual of the
Iran-Contra scandal was brought back from well-deserved obscurity to the Bush
Pentagon. There, he thought up Total Information Awareness -- which even
congressional Republicans found repulsive enough to reshape as Terrorist
Information Awareness.

   And now this.

   Fire him, Bingaman says. The demand isn't as heartless as it sounds.
Poindexter would have his retired-admiral pension and PX privileges for a start.
After that, he could start a whole new career as creator of Hollywood
spy-paranoia sagas.