Every day I get emailed all the press briefings from the US State Department and yesterday, I found this in my inbox: The State Department has put up bounties of several million dollars, under the Rewards for Justice program, for three men with connections to Al Qaeda, Abu Yahya al-Libi, Baitullah Mehsud, and Sirajuddin Haqqani. All three of these men are also strongly connected to the Taliban-led insurgency in the tribal areas, with Mehsud one of the group’s main leaders.
These Rewards for Justice bounties are not likely to have much impact on the capture or deaths of any of these dangerous men, but I am pleased that the State Department is actively pursuing them and highlighting to the US, Afghan, Pakistan, and global public the nefarious practices of these treacherous men. Who knows, with the world’s economy in the dumps, maybe there’ll be more people looking at that cool $5 million in a new light. Maybe we should put Dog the Bounty Hunter on the case? Nah.