Why was the $ 25 million dollars offered for Bin Laden's capture useless in the end?

For over a decade the US was offering 25 million dollars for Bin Laden’s capture, yet this fortune never seemed to entice anyone in his circle, even peripheral hangers on, to give him up. There had to be dozens, if not hundreds of people who knew where he was over the years as he traveled, yet no one took the bait.

If bribery is so prevalent in the MENA to get anything done why was money utterly useless in this case?

Perhaps they did not understand the sheer scale of what was being offered.

I’d say the logistics of passing on the information to an American official/agent on short notice (as well as given credit for it) and planning for a save escape for oneself and the family at the same time would have been too difficult.

Plus bin Laden certainly was surrounded by very dedicated followers who believed in the cause. They weren’t in it for the money.

Likely Bin Laden’s actual whereabouts at any given time were only known to a select few, who were known to be fiercely loyal.

There you go.

Some people can’t be bought. I wouldn’t sell out my country for $25 million. There are things I’d do for $25 million I’m not proud of, but I wouldn’t sell Canada out to Al-Qaida for any price. Why would one of Bin Laden’s closest confidantes sell him out to HIS enemies?

It helps to think of it as a force multiplier. Imagine the evil suit he couldn’t do thanks to a lottery-level reward for betraying him

Hell, I wouldn’t sell out Canada for $25m to Al Qaeda.

I would think that the people close enough to Bin Laden to give him up would also be the group of people who would not in any way trust the US to make good on that offer.

My belief is the US government knew where he was all along, but just kept tabs on him until the appropriate time, the appropriate time being when a large reduction in armed forces in the region was taking place. No more legions of troops, hence no more need for a wanted man to justify them.

I have a hard time believing the U.S. military under Bush wouldn’t have whacked Bin Laden if they had the opportunity. The first time the United States combed a desert looking for a wanted man in a foreign country they brought plenty of money for bribes and offered rewards. Still, Pancho Villa got away. Maybe one reason nobody collected the reward was because a lot of people were sympathetic to Bin Laden. Maybe they even liked him.

The people that knew where he was would have been prosecuted as terrorists or assassinated not rewarded with money. I think they knew that

Or even if they did, they had no reason to trust the US to not leak their name; which would be a death sentence, naturally.

Under Bush? He went out of his way to keep bin Laden from being captured; Congress had to override him at one point to get the hunt restarted. It’s not a coincidence that it was a under a new President that bin Laden was killed.

Right, news stories about the hunt for bin Laden show that he and the people around him were taking extreme precautions. The couriers who delivered his messages would disconnect their cell phones a great distance from the home. So the only people who really knew where he was were either very loyal to Al Qaeda or perhaps select members of the Pakistani intelligence service. Those people were committed to the cause and I think they knew they would not have been able to collect the reward even if they wanted it.

Frankly, I doubt that Bin Laden was doing much management of Al Queda , by the time of his death…very likely, he had been under surveillance for years. It is also strange why no details of his demise have been released. I suspect because it has become clear that someone else was running the show.

I think you underestimate the fervor of the people we’re dealing with. May I present to you the case of Humam al-Balawi? Dude came closer than anyone to getting the bounty, and look what happened instead.

“Qaeda”. No ‘u’.

Make it 35mil and throw in Avril Lavigne, and we can talk

I believe this is the answer. The people who knew his whereabouts were terrorists in their own right. The reward would only work if some unconnected person discovered his whereabouts.

You mean other than the book “No Easy Day”? :confused:

But you are correct that he felt marginalized at the time of his death. In addition to killing binLaden, the Seals seized computers and documents out of the compound, which the CIA have been combing through ever since.

According to reports, they were only 50% sure they’d find him in the compound (where he ultimately met his demise) when they sent the Seals in.

After he was killed and the government started combing through the documents in his home, they said he appeared to be more involved than they expected- although there were certainly limits on what he could do.

By Pakistan, maybe.

A lot of details have been released, officially and unofficially.