Is the Pentagon intending to move their tricycle backwards, or is all their backpedalling a coincidence? There are probably more, but off the top of my head, I can think of: the Office of Strategic Influence, Total Information Awareness and Policy Analysis Market (both brainchildren of Poindexter, each one a step towards his resignation), and now the cut in combat pay to soldiers is being reversed.

Of those four, only two programs were really halted, the Policy Analysis Market and this paycut. The other two either had a makeover (now the "Terrorism Information Awareness" although it still focuses on compiling data about US citizens), or in the case of OSI, claimed to shut down even though Rumsfeld bragged that it closed in name only.

I'm still waiting for someone to talk about whether this market theory of prediction means the people with more money are more often correct. Meanwhile, here's an interesting thought from someone named Standard Schaefer in Experimental Casinos: DARPA and the War Economy:

"...there are already exchanges where speculators place bets daily precisely on life and death. They are called the stock markets. Every day people are buying shares of defense contractors, weapons makers, funeral parlors and tobacco companies-not to mention the HMOs that relentlessly lobby to stave off universal Medicare thereby sacrificing the lives of 18,000 Americans every year who die due to a lack of health insurance coverage."