http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/03/12/shaikh.reward/index.html really interesting. he probably sold him out for the cash and i doubt he'll "keep it old school" and recycle those bills back into the terror rings. i smell an extended vacation to Qatar.
Just a bit of pessimism here: what happens if Mohammedreally doesn't know much at all about Al-Qaeda, and this yahoo just offered him up, grabbed the cash and will do damage with it himself? Nah.
unless this was some huge plot coughing up the #2 guy makes you bad guy #1. you gotta have some huge cojones to do that if you were on your own. i'll bet he's miles and miles gone. but it does offer the question. should we give 27 mil. to former terrorist? you kind of get 'greater good' conflict in there.
It does tend to go against the normal US policy of giving money to future terrorists, but no system is perfect.
It's money well spent. There aren't many squeaky clean informants. If you offer a reward, this is what you're expecting.