http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/03/12/shaikh.reward/index.html
So $25 million wasn’t enough you goatfucking footsoldier?
Hmmm. I dunno, World Eater.
Sure, he’s a captured al Queda soldier. But his tip DID lead to the arrest of the 9/11 mastermind. This means that this guy’s life, and by extention his family’s, is OVER back home. Hence the request for funds to move his family to the UK. I’m sure $2 million will move an entire village to the UK, and I’m sure $25 million is a shitload of money to receive for a simple footsoldier.
But the mastermind responsible for 4000+ lives has been caught. There’s no price tag on that.
I thought of that, but I gotta stick with my original knee-jerk reaction. I think I’m more pissed at the Govt granting his request. Perhaps I wouldn’t have told him to shove it up his ass, but still, there was a price tag on it. $25 million.
What, it’s going to cost $2 million to move his family to Great Britian? The $25 mill isn’t enough?
I’m grateful for his help, but jeez.
Perhaps its just a bit of propaganda to encourage other folks to provide information…
The US is constantly dropping leaflets all over Ahghanistan and Pakistan looking for info leading to those guys.
How would it look if we didn’t pay up?
25 Million could fund a lot of terrorism back in Egypt. I’m kinda relieved he’s made the trip to the UK although, admittedly, you can fund projects from pretty much anywhere. The whole ransom thing always did have the potential for an ironic twist though. The only people we were likely to have to pay it to are those already close to our target and, therefore, likely having similar sympathys.
My thoughts exactly. This is great PR. To top it off, the Pakistanis, who grant the Southern interlopers shelter out of scewed sense of hospitality, will be pissed that the money went to an Egyptian. I’m betting the Pakistanis assumed that a reward would never be paid out by the Americans. Some are probably thinking twice about their convictions.
I would prefer he stay in Britain. It’s much easier to keep an eye on him there. Even easier than the U S of A.
The $25 million I have no problem with. That was our agreed reward for information.
But to demand another $2 million on top of that is just greed and arrogance, IMHO.
And to cave to that demand is stupidity.
Can Britain tax the income of a new immigrant?
ummm, lieu? I saw that you replied to this topic, a topic titled like this, and expected a hearty chuckle from a bodily function joke, so I checked in. Did the hamster eat the rest of your post? 
Maybe the $25mil is going to be paid out like they pay out lotteries: spread out over, say, 20 years. If that’s the case, then I could see maybe asking for a larger sum up front. But even then, I don’t see why the $2mil “moving fees” doesn’t come out of the original $25mil. Do this guy really think his family’d have that much less a standard of living in the UK with a “mere” $23mil?
Perhaps it’s a tax bracket thing.
Hopefully it’s some propaganda to the effect of “give us the info, and well accomadate any stupid request you make”, and they never really paid the additional 2 mil. OTOH this is the US Govt we’re talking about.
I bet they threw in an Escalade as well.
Who knows how hardball he played, maybe he asked once and the US said “Sure, what-the-fuck-ever, just tell us where this jackhole is.”
I’m only mildly annoyed.
Why is lieu so famous for sick jokes? I lurked here for a while and didn’t really notice an excessive amount, but, then again, while lurking I didn’t always look at the name of the author of the posts as I read them.
To the 2 million extra, yes, that’s excessive. Unless he needs an insurance policy on rare Afghani cave rocks or something, I don’t think he needs more than 25 million to move his family.
But, then again, if it appears to the members of Al-Qaeda whose loyalties are wavering, that the US will not only give you 25 million for information, but a bunch more if you just ask, along with some excuse (I need to move my family! Well, you can pay for that with your 25 million. No, I put that all in T-Bills, I need 2 million more) for needing it, then maybe that’ll be the final straw in convincing some to tip-off the feds. Let’s hope anyway. Otherwise the US just shoved 2 million bucks down the drain. (and into this guy’s pocket)
See!!!
It doesn’t bother me. If we can spend untold billions murdering peope we can spend a couple mill to save a few.