# We were sold for bounties say Gitmo prisoners.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-were-sold-for-bounties-say-gitmo-prisoners/306294
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [June 1, 2005, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-were-sold-for-bounties-say-gitmo-prisoners/306294 "2005-06-01T00:23:02Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2005, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-were-sold-for-bounties-say-gitmo-prisoners/306294/1 "2005-06-01T00:23:02Z")
More and more comes out. Do I believe them? Why would they lie?
> [@](#):
>
> SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (May 31) - They fed them well. The Pakistani tribesmen slaughtered a sheep in honor of their guests, Arabs and Chinese Muslims famished from fleeing U.S. bombing in the Afghan mountains. But their hosts had ulterior motives: to sell them to the Americans, said the men who are now prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.
>
> Bounties ranged from $3,000 to $25,000, the detainees testified during military tribunals, according to transcripts the U.S. government gave The Associated Press to comply with a Freedom of Information lawsuit.
[http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20050531135109990006&\_ccc=1&cid=842](http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20050531135109990006&_ccc=1&cid=842)
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### Author:  [@DMC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMC)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2005, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-were-sold-for-bounties-say-gitmo-prisoners/306294/2 "2005-06-01T01:41:36Z")
> [@Reeder](#):
>
> More and more comes out. Do I believe them? Why would they lie?
I **really** don’t want to believe that this is true, as that is very disturbing. If this turns out to be true, then they need to send everyone home, with big giant checks for their time. I’m still crossing my fingers that some Pentagon spokesperson won’t be stepping forward in a few days saying something like “Well, it happened, but not quite as often as they claim it did” or something similar.
We can’t be that evil (or stupid, take your pick), can we?
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### Author:  [@GaWd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaWd)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2005, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-were-sold-for-bounties-say-gitmo-prisoners/306294/3 "2005-06-01T02:10:20Z")
This is something that was mentioned a while back in an article I read. I see no reason to doubt that the military and militia in Afghanistan and Pakistan were rounding up people for bounties to sell as AQ insiders. It became even more clear to me when many of the prisoners were being released because they were found not to have any involvement at all.
Why do these things still shock us?
Sam
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### Author:  [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2005, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-were-sold-for-bounties-say-gitmo-prisoners/306294/4 "2005-06-01T02:17:11Z")
Without substantiation, it’s another unsupported allegation. I’m not shocked by lies and liars on both sides of the equation.
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### Author:  [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2005, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-were-sold-for-bounties-say-gitmo-prisoners/306294/5 "2005-06-01T02:48:55Z")
> [@danceswithcats](#):
>
> Without substantiation, it’s another unsupported allegation.
Unsubstantiated in terms of the particulars of this case, but our payments to Afghans for information leading to arrests, or bombing runs, have been raising eyebrows for years:
[Why Afghan civilians still being bombed?](http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_8-7-2002_pg7_28) (May 2002)
> [@](#):
>
> Many members of local militias show off pieces of paper, curfew passes, saying they are assisting the US forces. They claim to be receiving $100 a week, about half the average yearly income, with bonuses for information on Taliban and Al Qaeda.
>
> “Basically what you’ve got is tribesmen with century-old feuds finding they can use the world’s most powerful army to take revenge on their enemies,” Abdul Qadir, the Afghan Consul General in Peshawar and leader of the Noorzai tribe, says in the report, adding, “And they get paid for it.”
[Liabilities of using Afghan informants](http://www.csmonitor.com/2001/1224/p1s2-wosc.html) (Dec 2001)
> [@](#):
>
> Saif Ullah, a major in the Pakistani intelligence services until 1998 and, more recently, a consultant for NBC News, says the US government needs to be more aware of the constantly shifting loyalties on the ground if its campaign is to be successful.
>
> For instance, he says, he is "110 percent sure that [Commander] Ullah is working for Al Qaeda…
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### Author:  [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2005, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-were-sold-for-bounties-say-gitmo-prisoners/306294/6 "2005-06-01T03:24:03Z")
How could we ever have expected anything else? Its like offering Al Capone a bounty to turn in Bugs Moran! Of course they ratted out thier political enemies, we should have expected _exactly_ that!
Two bit says it happens again in Iraq, if it hasn’t already. Everybody there has an agenda.
But that amazing part: $25 million for Al-Zaq and no takers. That has all kinds of implications, none of them good.
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### Author:  [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2005, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-were-sold-for-bounties-say-gitmo-prisoners/306294/7 "2005-06-01T03:26:59Z")
What’s the current bounty on Osama bin Laden, dead or alive? I notice that hasn’t been claimed yet, either.
What do you mean, Osama bin Who?
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### Author:  [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2005, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-were-sold-for-bounties-say-gitmo-prisoners/306294/8 "2005-06-01T03:46:24Z")
There is no Al-Zaq.
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### Author:  [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2005, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-were-sold-for-bounties-say-gitmo-prisoners/306294/9 "2005-06-01T03:47:05Z")
Well, bounty hunters take people for money all day in the good ole USA. The problem is, they get to face a judge in a specified period of time after being taken. The guys in Gitmo don’t get that right. Do they deserve that right? Well that’s another matter . . .
I beleive it’s a war and that they should be treated as POW’s, but the administration seems to want to leave it in limbo for now. Not that I have a real problem with that.
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### Author:  [@Exploding\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exploding_Kitchen)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2005, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-were-sold-for-bounties-say-gitmo-prisoners/306294/10 "2005-06-01T04:40:57Z")
These allegations and those of abuse are why the Bush Administration should allow an open and public, non-DOD investigation of the actions at Gitmo, the Downing Street minutes, and other things called into question related to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
Anything else than openness stinks of a cover-up, no matter which party’s in charge.
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### Author:  [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2005, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-were-sold-for-bounties-say-gitmo-prisoners/306294/11 "2005-06-01T04:56:36Z")
I find your ideas intriguing, and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.
(But seriously folks, welcome to the Leper Colony…)
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### Author:  [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2005, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-were-sold-for-bounties-say-gitmo-prisoners/306294/12 "2005-06-01T05:15:14Z")
[quote]
**Without substantiation, it’s another unsupported allegation.**
Funny, that’s what those who support human rights say about those who are being held without access to the court system and labelled as “terrorists.”
The Bush Administration says they are guilty and they are not going to be allowed to prove they are innocent. The Supreme Court said last June that the prisoners at Guantanamo have a right to have access to the judicial system.
And look, it’s June again.
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### Author:  [@Exploding\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exploding_Kitchen)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2005, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-were-sold-for-bounties-say-gitmo-prisoners/306294/13 "2005-06-01T05:27:14Z")
Thanks for the welcome!
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### Author:  [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2005, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-were-sold-for-bounties-say-gitmo-prisoners/306294/14 "2005-06-01T06:30:55Z")
> [@Si Amigo](#):
>
> The administration seems to want to leave it in limbo for now. Not that I have a real problem with that.
How the fuck can you not have a problem with that? How do you rationalize away the fact that a _major_ civil right is being denied these people? How does anyone?
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### Author:  [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2005, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-were-sold-for-bounties-say-gitmo-prisoners/306294/15 "2005-06-01T06:52:23Z")
> [@iamthewalrus(:3=](#):
>
> How the fuck can you not have a problem with that? How do you rationalize away the fact that a _major_ civil right is being denied these people? How does anyone?
They (the folks who don’t have a problem with it) don’t give a toot since it’s not their ass on the line.
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### Author:  [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2005, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-were-sold-for-bounties-say-gitmo-prisoners/306294/16 "2005-06-01T07:04:21Z")
> [@Exploding Kitchen](#):
>
> Thanks for the welcome!
BOOM! 😛
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### Author:  [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2005, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-were-sold-for-bounties-say-gitmo-prisoners/306294/17 "2005-06-01T11:12:21Z")
I’m not sure who’s being pitted here, but from the linked article, it should be Pakistan. The US offered rewards for Taliban members. They were delivered people about whom the Pakistanis lied. The US interrogated the people to determine whether they were in fact who the Pakistanis said they were, and released the ones who weren’t. According to the article, the US was paying for specific named people. Since this is Reeder’s thread, I suppose it goes without saying that Bush is being pitted, but where is the evidence that the US intended to pay for random bodies?
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### Author:  [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2005, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-were-sold-for-bounties-say-gitmo-prisoners/306294/18 "2005-06-01T11:30:03Z")
America offered money to people in an impoverished country and you want to think they did something wrong?
I have no evidence that America offered one dime to anyone but if dimes were offered it is not surprising if the offer was taken up.
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### Author:  [@DMC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMC)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2005, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-were-sold-for-bounties-say-gitmo-prisoners/306294/19 "2005-06-01T12:12:25Z")
> [@Liberal](#):
>
> I’m not sure who’s being pitted here, but from the linked article, it should be Pakistan. The US offered rewards for Taliban members. They were delivered people about whom the Pakistanis lied.
Nowhere in the article does the U.S claim that they have given reward money to any Pakistani, and in the article Pakistan denies accepting any money. Why would we want to pit Pakistan based on the information in the article?
> [@](#):
>
> The US interrogated the people to determine whether they were in fact who the Pakistanis said they were, and released the ones who weren’t.
Are we reading the same article? I saw no evidence of this. Heck, not even a claim by someone that this is what happened.
> [@](#):
>
> According to the article, the US was paying for specific named people. Since this is Reeder’s thread, I suppose it goes without saying that Bush is being pitted, but where is the evidence that the US intended to pay for random bodies?
According the the article, the U.S. **claims** it was only paying for specific people. Based on what has come out after similar allegations have been made previously during this “war”, I’m not willing to give their claim any more credence (and perhaps less) than those who are making the claims against us.
Once again, I’m willing to wait until we have further evidence, but if it turns out that we were indeed offering money simply for turning in unnamed “al-Qaida fighters”, who are then flown to Gitmo without any evidence other than someone pointed them out for money, I’m damned well going to pit this administration.
If the police went into some poor neighborhood in the U.S. and offered $5000 to anyone who could name a drug dealer, would you expect them to end up with a jail full of drug dealers, sans innocents? I didn’t think so.
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### Author:  [@Blackclaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackclaw)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2005, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-were-sold-for-bounties-say-gitmo-prisoners/306294/20 "2005-06-01T12:20:54Z")
> [@Reeder](#):
>
> More and more comes out. Do I believe them? Why would they lie?
Because claiming to be an innocent victim is a more logical choice than admitting that you enjoy blowing things up and killing people.
I’m not saying that they are lying, but anyone that is actually guilty of crimes has a reason to lie.
All the more reason that we need a well defined legal process to deal with the prisoners in Gitmo.
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