Your tax dollars at work

Since these guys were so hated, don't you think we could have gotten info on them for no more than $5 million?

Powell OKs $30 Million Reward for Iraqi Informant

Thu July 31, 2003 01:47 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State Colin Powell on Thursday approved a $30 million reward to the person who led U.S. forces to Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's sons Uday and Qusay, the State Department said.

The United States speeded up the approval process, which usually takes months, to encourage Iraqis to provide information about Saddam himself, who lost power to U.S. forces in April and remains on the run.

The United States is offering up to $25 million for information on the whereabouts of Saddam Hussein....

The reward, $15 million for each of the two men, would be the largest ever paid by the United States under its Rewards for Justice program, the spokesman added.

Under the program, people who give information to the United States are eligible for relocation to the United States and help with immigration. But the spokesman declined to say whether the recipient had left or would leave Iraq.

He also declined to say how the payment would be made.

"That remains to be worked out with the individual in his choice of denominations or transfers," he said.

According to the Rewards for Justice Web site, in the past nine years the United States has paid more than $9.75 million to 24 people who provided information that put "terrorists" behind bars or prevented acts of international terrorism.

Update:

How much for Ali?

Saddam's youngest son, Ali, born in the 1980s to his second wife, Samira Shabandar, is believed to be in Switzerland.