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US doubles Bin Laden bounty to 50 million
Khaleej Times ^ | 13 July 2007 | AFP

Posted on 07/13/2007 10:57:42 AM PDT by Ancient Drive

WASHINGTON - The US Senate Friday doubled the bounty on Osama bin Laden to 50 million dollars, reflecting frustration that the Al Qaeda mastermind remains free and rising anxiety over possible future attacks.

The vote followed a flurry of reports that the group behind the September 11 strikes in 2001 had rebuilt its safe haven, leadership and capacity to plot terror operations, and was trying to sneak operatives into the United States.

The Senate voted by 87-1 to boost the price on Bin Laden’s head under the State Department Rewards for Justice program, which has already paid out millions of dollars for top US targets, including Saddam Hussein’s sons.

It directs Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice ‘to authorize a reward of 50 million dollars for the capture or death or information leading to the capture or death of Osama bin Laden.’

The bill also addresses frustration among some lawmakers that the Bush administration has still not caught bin Laden, despite launching a massive manhunt after the September 11 attacks, nearly six years go.

It requires the secretaries of state and defence and the director of national intelligence to produce a report to Congress every 90 days on progress towards bringing bin Laden and other terror leaders to justice.

North Dakota Senator Byron Dorgan, who wrote the amendment to a defence policy bill, said ‘it has been six years, and Al Qaeda is now rebuilding its terrorist training camps, along with the Taleban, in a safe harbor.

‘It has been six years and they are reconstituting their ability to attack us,’ he said.

Dorgan warned Al Qaeda ‘remains the greatest threat to the United States, even after these six long years; after two wars ... after trillions of dollars spent on those wars and for homeland security, after the deaths of thousands of our military, and after the wounding of tens of thousands of our military.’ Senators who spoke on the amendment mentioned a leaked draft of a new National Intelligence Estimate, which reportedly warned Al Qaeda had rebuilt a safe haven and leadership structure in Pakistani border areas.

As debate about a possible future attack by Al Qaeda on US territory mounted in Washington, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said this week that he had a ‘gut’ feeling there was a heightened current risk of an attack.

President George W. Bush on Thursday denied reports that the intelligence assessment found Al Qaeda was back to its pre-September 11 strength.

‘There is a perception in the coverage that Al Qaeda may be as strong today as they were prior to September 11th. That’s simply not the case,’ Bush said.

White House deputy spokeswoman Dana Perino said Friday that the new national intelligence estimate was expected to be delivered to Bush within weeks.

The Washington Post reported Thursday that the group had rebuilt itself despite extensive US efforts to destroy the network.

The CIA’s deputy director for intelligence, John Kringen, told a congressional committee on Wednesday that Al Qaeda appears to be ‘fairly well-settled into the safe haven in the ungoverned spaces of Pakistan.’

The Rewards for Justice Program has so far paid out 62 million dollars in bounties leading to top US terror suspects or for the prevention of terror attacks, the State Department says.

Among the top payouts were the 15 million dollars each for Saddam’s son’s Uday and Qusay Hussein, killed by US troops in Iraq in 2003.


TOPICS: Front Page News; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: binladen; bounty; manhunt
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To: Resolute Conservative

Now if they throw in an iPhone that might work
fortress


41 posted on 07/13/2007 11:39:25 AM PDT by fortress
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To: BreezyDog; TheShadows

With the bounty this high (even at 25 mil), would it have been worth it for some terrorists to turn over his dead body for the sake of adding 25 (now 50) million to Al Qaeda’s coffers?

Although I do kinda lean towards him being dead becasue of the lack of new video’s from him, but last time I thought that, he showed up in a new video/audio tape.


42 posted on 07/13/2007 11:41:45 AM PDT by Tatze (I'm in a state of taglinelessness!)
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To: Ancient Drive

Let’s see:

1) 20,000 Pakistani troops amass in northern tribal area for a significant confrontation with Al Qaeda. Bush putting more pressure on Musharif?

2) Musharif reverses course and takes a more aggressive stance with terrorist inside Mosque.

3) London bomb attacks.

4) FBI discovers new significance to old emails thought unimportant becuase of new evidence from London attack bombers.

3) Ayman Al-Zawahiri’s last tape concerns FBI because of repeated remarks considered unusual. FBI wonders is this an attack signal.

4) Bush admin. gives FBI two weeks to follow up and act on 700 leads in this country (100 leads in NY city).

5) Chertoff all of a sudden not so tight lipped about gut feeling.

6) Terrorists noise is at very high volume. Some in law enforcement considers this the “summer of chatter”

7) Bin Laden bounty now becomes 50 million.

Conclusion: Something’s up


43 posted on 07/13/2007 11:53:47 AM PDT by conservativepoet
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To: conservativepoet

oops...forgive my misnumbering. LOL


44 posted on 07/13/2007 11:54:39 AM PDT by conservativepoet
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To: Ancient Drive

Hmmmmmm?

Price of gold per oz. in September of 2001= $285
Price of gold per oz. in July of 2007= $655

$25M * 655/285 = $57M

That’s about right, but it still looks like it’s about $7M short.


45 posted on 07/13/2007 11:55:25 AM PDT by Rockitz (This isn't rocket science- Follow the money and you'll find the truth.)
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To: Ancient Drive

When it gets up to $100 million, I’m buying a plane ticket for Pakistan.


46 posted on 07/13/2007 11:56:03 AM PDT by no dems (If there is no pressure, there is no change.)
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To: Ancient Drive


$50,000,000?
Yea, that'll help...
I'll have him in by Monday ...
47 posted on 07/13/2007 11:57:39 AM PDT by Liberty Valance (Keep a simple manner for a happy life :o)
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To: Liberty Valance

lol. Probably the funniest 10 minutes of on-screen time in movie history.


48 posted on 07/13/2007 12:14:26 PM PDT by quark
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To: Ancient Drive

I understand they cannot comprehend how much $50 million is.

Give them something they WILL understand. The person who gives the location of Osama will receive their WEIGHT IN GOLD COIN.

Then watch them scramble.


49 posted on 07/13/2007 12:15:03 PM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar (When someone burns a cross on your lawn the best firehose is an AK-47.)
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To: Ancient Drive

throw in a a dozen mountain goats wearing pink thongs and the locals will turn him in


50 posted on 07/13/2007 12:19:08 PM PDT by finnman69 (May Paris Hilton's plane crash into Britney Spears house while Lindsey Lohan is over doing coke)
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To: Ancient Drive

Like those idiots know the difference between 25 and 50 million.


51 posted on 07/13/2007 12:22:57 PM PDT by ustanker (Secure the border!)
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To: RC2
How about just giving our Special Forces the 50 million and let them do it?

Add to it a full pardon for however they gotta get the job done.

52 posted on 07/13/2007 12:29:21 PM PDT by hunter112 (Change will happen when very good men are forced to do very bad things.)
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To: Rutles4Ever
This sounds rather urgent. NOW they’re doubling it? Sounds like we’re on the verge of something large-scale going down.

Nope, just the Senate trying to look like they're doing something when they're really doing nothing. Show me the raghead for which 25 mil was not enough, but 50 mil is.

53 posted on 07/13/2007 12:31:15 PM PDT by hunter112 (Change will happen when very good men are forced to do very bad things.)
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To: Ancient Drive

He’s been in Iran and they don’t want the money.


54 posted on 07/13/2007 1:20:06 PM PDT by AmericaUnited
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To: Ancient Drive

Make it a billion apiece for him and his deputy Zawahiri. It would be money well spent.


55 posted on 07/13/2007 2:06:30 PM PDT by RichardW
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To: Ancient Drive

I don’t know. $50M bones for a dead man? I would put that bounty on the #”2” a$$hole instead!


56 posted on 07/13/2007 3:01:39 PM PDT by bubman
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To: stuartcr
While nobody collected the reward for Saddam (the info was obtained during an interrogation), it is believed that Nawaf al-Zeidan, a distant relative of the Husseins and the owner of the villa where Uday and Qusay were finally killed, was the one who tipped off the US to their location. While no one has confirmed that he was the recipient of the $30 million, he was granted US citizenship and flown out of Iraq on a US Air Force aircraft.
57 posted on 07/14/2007 12:04:34 AM PDT by Stonewall Jackson (The Hunt for FRed November. 11/04/08)
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