A bounty hunt for bin Laden yields heads, ears

U.S. News- Washington Whispers ^ | 07/20/2002 | Paul Bedard

[Pokey78]

Federal and private rewards offered for the capture or death of Osama bin Laden and his henchmen have prompted a wave of mercenaries to flood into the Afghanistan area, and now they're bragging about delivering heads and ears as proof of success. "The going currency with bounty hunters is ears," says Edward Lozzi, a Los Angeles PR exec who helped 10 Fortune 500 telecommunications firms organize a $100 million mercenary effort. "It's a total windfall for the mercenary business." So far, he claims, no top bin Laden aides have been nabbed, but several others have been killed. The administration is quietly cheering the headhunters, and one key source added that the Pentagon is encouraging private "off-the-shelf little armies." Success, however, has been rare–and hard to prove. One hunter recently claimed he had beheaded bin Laden aide Ayman Al-Zawahiri and asked the Pentagon for the $25 million reward. An official tells us the Pentagon asked for proof and got the head, which the FBI found wasn't Zawahiri's. "There are a lot of con men over there," says the official.

[JRandomFreeper]

"The Ballad of Boh da Thone"(sp?) by Kipling. "Please to send rupees..."

There's quite a bit of historical precedence for these activities in that part of the world.

/john

[MikeJ]

Who'd have thought that a Los Angeles PR exec and some Fortune 500 telecom firms would self-organise to become one of Al Queada's biggest fears?

I love this country.

[Trust but Verify]

Those evil, rich, corporate.....Nevermind.

[SSN558]

Organized hunts for the ultimate trophy buck, in Afganistan. $2295 all expenses paid for one week in camel country. Transportation, lodging, meals, and two armed guides. Sniper rifle with night scope extra, $250 per week.

[sawsalimb]

lol-didn't Sam Peckinpah make a film something along these lines?("Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia",lol)

[happytobealive]

The going currency with bounty hunters is ears.

I'm wondering how ears would identify someone, but maybe we have DNA we can uses to match.

[tiki]

Good old capitalism. :-}

[billhilly]

Somehow this doesn't seem quite right. Do all Afganis' ears qualify? Who decides which ones to shoot? OOPS, we got the wrong one. Just throw the head in this pile.

[Optimist]

Organized hunts for the ultimate trophy buck, in Afganistan.

IF I MIGHT PARAPHRASE

Sniper rifle with night scope - $250

One week in camel country-Transportation, lodging, meals, and two armed guides - $2295

American Capitalism - Priceless

Visa - It takes you where you wanna be

[mamelukesabre]

They don't prove death either

[happytobealive]

They don't prove death either

Would some terrorist give up there ears to take the heat off?

[mamelukesabre]

WHy not? They undergo plastic surgery to change their appearances.

[Sparticle]

Would some terrorist give up there ears to take the heat off?

I hadn't heard of this.

[HetLoo]

You don't have to remove the head to remove the ear.

[LuigiBasco]

Hey, just a thought
Why not one on Bin's brothers gets an ear from a relative and collects the 25 mil? DNA would match..no?

[billhilly]

Ordinarily it is a good idea to read the posts before commenting. While I agree with you that removing a head in order to remove its ears is not necessary, this is what the article said.

".......Afghanistan area, and now they're bragging about delivering heads and ears as proof ...." Now, go and do the right thing, as Dr Laura would say.

[Joe 6-pack]

"Would some terrorist give up there ears to take the heat off?"

That would be unheard of...I suppose the plan may have been proposed, but I'm sure it fell on deaf ears.

[cmsgop]

A Gal brought me Chicken Alfredo once...........

[reagan_fanatic]

Somehow, I think we would get faster results if we would
offer a lifetime supply of sheep rather than $25 million dollars...

Just my opinion.

[Yardstick]

LOL! Freepers will argue about anything.

[Prodigal Son]

Hmmm. So this means that somewhere in Afghansitan, some CIA guy or SpecOps type has to sit and examine severed heads and ears all day or what? Can you imagine?

"All right, let's see what you got there, take it out of the bag and place it on the desk please- Jesus! Somebody get a towel! Can't you read the sign on the tent entrance you stupid mercenary! It specifically says you must drain all heads before you bring them in! Now look at this mess!"

[tiki]

It's the same as vigilante justice and no it probably isn't right especially if they get the wrong guy. And I guess the bounty hunter makes the decision of guilt or innocence.

I would imagine that you would be pretty discriminating if you were in a foreign country where most people are armed and you stick out like a sore thumb.

[blam]

"Organized hunts for the ultimate trophy buck, in Afganistan. $2295 all expenses paid for one week in camel country. Transportation, lodging, meals, and two armed guides. Sniper rifle with night scope extra, $250 per week."

...and you're automatically entered into our $25 million sweepstakes prize financed by the US federal government.

[Yardstick]

I'm reminded of this all-time classic FR thread, which features heated FReeper debate over whether a fat man would, in fact, split open at the seams "like a watermelon" if he fell from a mule-drawn sled:

:http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/655171/posts

The seeds are sown at post #11, things start to get interesting around post #20, and from post #54 onward the absurdity reaches a sort of crescendo. It's entertaining stuff, and proof that FReepers will take a position on *anything*.

[billhilly]

Thank you for sharing that. It is hilarious. I "split a gut" just reading it. Perhaps that was the moral of the story. Either that, or the teller left out the part about the mule kicking the fat man in the stomach just before he fell off the sled.

[xfmrman]

What? What? What did you say? (chuckle)

[Yardstick]

Silly stuff, innit? Glad you got a kick out of it -- I know I did.

[habaes corpussel]

In our current shape I hope this Bounty is taxable.

[RipSawyer]

I wanna know where to git that there sniper rifle with a midnight telescope for $250.00. That has got to be the best deal I have heard tell about since Big Jim's widow sold his model A coupe for $400.00. I swear, I thank some o' yall has done led a sheltered life. I could probably keep most of yall in stitches for weeks just by tellin the truth about my childhood, which lasted for approximately 55 years.
Mercy on a pore boy.

[Yardstick]

I liked your story, and it definitely got the ball rolling on an entertaining thread!

[HetLoo]

"Ordinarily it is a good idea to read the posts before commenting. While I agree with you that removing a head in order to remove its ears is not necessary, this is what the article said.

".......Afghanistan area, and now they're bragging about delivering heads and ears as proof ...." Now, go and do the right thing, as Dr Laura would say."

heads AND ears. If they were just removing ears by removing heads, why the redundancy? Obviously, some people are donating just ears.