It was a brilliant idea, but the execution was lacking. They should have had the CIA contact some place like Onion to actually provide the betting location. They could have pulled it off and have been provided the money and charge a very small fee to place each bet. The CIA could have covered the difference and made sure that Onion would make a profit and not expose who was really behind the scheme.
Here are some of the benefits of the betting:
- Thousands of people would be thinking about and studying current events trying to "connect the dots" to make money.
- Some of these people (greedy terrorists) would have inside information and bet on possible terrorist events that might not have been previously identified. They would identify "new dots" to be connected.
- Any terrorists who would not be planning on suicide, would be interested in making profit from their inside knowledge.
- The increase in betting would be an excellent indicator that a terrorist event is eminent.
- With the CIA involved, all bets could be traced right to the very computer that they were placed from. These computers might have more important information on them that could also be obtained, quietly.
- Remember, it was the Democrats and the mainstream media that went ballistic when they heard of the scheme. Both entities do not want the Republican administration to succeed.
I am sure there are many more valid reasons and possible intelligence benefits that would be possible, but I can't think of them at the moment.
Good Hunting... from Varmint Al