TERROR "STOCK MARKET' ANOTHER PR DISASTER 

1 August 2003
The Post Standard/Herald-Journal
Final
A11

To the Editor: 

I did not expect anything good to come out of John Poindexter and the 
Terrorism Awareness program. But the harebrained idea to set up a "stock 
market" to predict terror is arrogant and stupid, not to mention a 
public-relations disaster. 

Something this dumb must have some hidden agenda, brought to us by the same 
folks who dreamed up the Department of Misinformation - to be used overseas 
only, of course. Then we read that it was all a mistake. Trouble is, we've 
been told so many things that turned out not to be true that it makes you 
wonder if the American people were really the target all along. 

So what is the motivation here? Was Poindexter hoping enough wealthy people 
will bet so much of that tax-cut money that they would try to influence 
events, including assassination attempts, to protect their investment? Is it 
a way to desensitize the American public to murder and mayhem, so the next 
assassination attempt or invasion is easier to accept? Are we trying to make 
the rest of the world so disgusted and angry with us that we have another 
attack here, good for re-election? 

This might sound preposterous, but so is spending $600,000 to come up with 
something so cynical and unethical. 

Jean Martin 
Cazenovia