A couple of days ago we all heard the news that Osama Bin Laden had been found living in a mansion in a village called Abbottabad, merely 30-40 miles from the capital city of Islamabad, Pakistan. Our military, once it had been confirmed that Bin Laden was there, swooped in and killed Bin Laden after a 40 minute firefight. His body was taken with them, and eventually after his identity was confirmed, his body was dumped into the ocean.
I think most freedom loving people are glad that he has been brought to justice, and that he'll no longer be able to kill or harm innocent people. What effect this has on terrorism in general remains to be seen.
$27 Million In Reward Money
Now that he has been caught and killed, one interesting question has popped up. Will anyone be able to claim the $27 million dollars in reward money that has been offered for information leading to or resulting in Bin Laden's capture?
The U.S Government has used reward money as a way to put added pressure on fugitive terrorists.
The use of reward money has become an important asset in the government's fight against global terrorism.
The Rewards for Justice program, run by the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security, has paid out more than $100 million to over 60 people since it was created in 1984.
In the past the reward money has had positive effects. In 2003 the largest reward ever was paid out when a $30 million dollar bounty was paid after information lead to U.S. troops finding and killing Uday and Qusay Hussein, sons of Saddam Hussein.
The U.S. government has offered a $25 million dollar bounty on Osama Bin Laden's head, although a State Department spokesman noted that the reward was for up to $25 million, meaning it could be less. In addition the Airline Pilots Association and the Air Transport Association put together another $2 million in rewards – for a total of $27 million dollars in potential reward money.
As of right now it doesn't sound like anyone is in line to get the money since the intelligence that was used in order to kill Bin Laden originated from, according to the Obama administration, “un-identified detainees”. In other words, some of the Guantanamo Bay detainees turned in some good intel that lead to Osama's trusted courier – who lead them to Osama.
Who Do You Think Should Get The Money – If Anyone?
So it doesn't sound like anyone gave up Bin Laden of their own free will, or he wasn't turned in by anyone that could claim the reward. Because of that, it may never be rewarded. Question is – should it be?
Some are clamoring for the reward to be given to the Navy Seals who were responsible for his being brought to justice, or for parts of it to be used for our troops and intelligence folks who tracked him down. I would have no problem with that.
How about you? Do you think the money should be rewarded?
This is an interesting proposition. I don’t have any problems with the reward money being paid. The difficult part is to determine who is to be included. The seal team were doing their job, and would probably have confronted BL no matter where the intel came from. The intel originated from a detainee in Guantanamo Bay, arguably they should receive the reward.
I’m pretty sure that’s not gonna happen. :)
Maybe the money should be given to the SEALs. Divide it up among the team. Or give it to a well established widows fund for servicemen and servicewomen killed in Afghanistan and Iraq during the war on terror.
Not exactly sure what they should do with the money, but I’d probably suggest there be some sort of benefit for the soldiers who took part in the raid. I also like what options dude suggested by creating a fund for the families of fallen servicemen and women.
Timothy
I think that someone should get the reward money, if indeed one individual gave out info leading to his capture. However, they may be keeping it quiet about who gets the money, for security reasons.
Also – didn’t know they dumped his body in the ocean! I guess there was no proper burial for him!