Posted on 02/17/2005 2:37:33 PM PST by crushelits
Reward Offered for Bin Laden in Pakistan
SLAMABAD, Pakistan - A television and radio campaign offering a $25 million reward for information leading to the capture of Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) hit the airwaves in Pakistan this week in a U.S.-government funded drive to get fresh leads about the al-Qaida leader.
The 30-second television spot flashes photographs of bin Laden and 13 other top terror suspects, including his deputy Ayman al-Zawahri and Taliban leader Mullah Omar, with an emotional appeal for help in bringing them to justice.
"Who are the people who are suffering from terrorism? Our mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, sons and daughters! Who are those terrorists? And who can stop them? Only you!" a voice appeals in the Urdu language.
The spot makes no direct reference to the U.S. government, a reflection of continued resentment of the United States by many in this Islamic nation of 150 million, despite close official ties between Islamabad and Washington in the war on terror.
The campaign is an upshot of counterterrorist rewards legislation authored 
by Rep. Mark Kirk (news, bio, voting record), a Republican from Illinois.
The measure also gave President Bush (news - web sites) the option to double the reward for the al-Qaida chief to $50 million.
"This program could improve our chances of capturing the world's most wanted man," Kirk said in a statement issued in Washington.
Three years after the Sept. 11 attacks killed nearly 3,000 people, the bin Laden's trail has gone cold.
Tens of thousands of Pakistani troops and 17,000 U.S. forces in Afghanistan (news - web sites) have drawn a blank, though officials still presume the al-Qaida leader is probably hiding in the rugged mountains between the two countries.
The U.S. government has publicized rewards for al-Qaida and Taliban suspects before — on posters, matchbox covers, newspaper ads, the Internet and even with leaflets scattered from the air in Pakistan's tribal regions.
This is the first time they've used TV.
Greggory Crouch, spokesman at the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, said the TV messages in Urdu, Sindhi, Baluchi and Pashtu languages are part of a nationwide campaign under the State Department-administered "Rewards for Justice" program. They will run on state and private television and state radio for an initial period of six weeks.
A contact phone number and e-mail address is provided, and promises confidentiality and resettlement for informants and their families.
An embassy official said on condition of anonymity that ads that began appearing in Pakistani newspapers in early January have yielded about 25 calls, which he declined to characterize, other than to say that some had been useful.
The initial response to the television messages, however, was cool among the viewers who spoke to the Associated Press in three cities.
"It's useless!" laughed Mohammed Arshad, a bearded shopkeeper who saw the TV spot with friends at home in Peshawar. He said the ad was too brief for people to take in and was unnecessary anyway.
"Everyone knows what Osama looks like anyway. People even name their babies after him. ... The reward isn't new. It's been around for years."
Shahid Ali, a 50-year old business manager in Karachi — a hotbed of Islamic militancy where top al-Qaida operatives have been caught in the past — declared the campaign "rubbish."
"America is the biggest terrorist so how can they brand anybody else a terrorist?" he said.
Gul Shah, a 29-year-old shopkeeper in the southwestern city of Quetta, said he was interested to learn that 11 terror suspects he hadn't seen before had $5 million rewards on their heads.
"I don't know whether this advertisement would lead toward the arrest of these guys, but it is clear that it would create awareness," he said.
But Arshad, the Peshawar shopkeeper, was not convinced.
"Americans claim they have such wonderful technology and nothing is hidden from their eyes, even if it's in space or underwater. But they haven't found Osama yet. Who knows if they ever will?"
Typical Yahoo News cheap shot.
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