Bush wants more funds to pay for al-Qaeda tipsters

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Bush administration foresees a sharp rise in the capture of al-Qaeda-linked terrorists in the coming year and is asking for more money to pay for tips that may lead to their arrest or demise.

The State Department says there is a high likelihood that several wanted terror suspects will be caught “in the near future” and wants to double the amount – from $6 million to $12 million (euro8 million) – it holds in reserve for cash rewards to people who provide actionable information about the whereabouts of those individuals.

The increase won’t pay for the up to $25 million offered for Osama bin Laden or his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, and the department isn’t naming names on who the US hopes to catch. But, it says it expects members of Southeast Asian al-Qaeda affiliates Jemaah Islamiyah and Abu Sayyaf Group, to be turned in soon. Both are radical Islamist groups targeted by local governments with US help.

The $6 million boost, along with the prediction that it will be needed to pay rewards, is buried in the administration’s State Department budget request for the next fiscal year that was sent to Congress this week.

It is part of a proposed $10 million jump, from $8.9 million to $19 million, for the department to respond to overseas diplomatic crises, a budget line that includes payments to informants who turn in suspected terrorists, war criminals and drug lords. The other $4 million of the 113 percent increase is largely for emergency evacuations.

The spending plan says the additional $6 million will go to the “Rewards for Justice” program that seeks information about terrorists and suggests that the administration expects to use it to pay for tips about Jemaah Islamiyah and Abu Sayyaf leaders who are under sustained pressure, particularly in the Philippines.

“The momentum generated by the successful counterterrorism campaigns in Southeast Asia will likely result in the arrests of key terrorists from ASG and JI in the near future,” it says. “It is highly likely that many of these key terrorists ... will be brought to justice in the near future.”

The budget proposal makes no assertions about arrests of any other terrorist groups, or any war criminal or drug trafficker.

Jemaah Islamiyah is blamed for the deadly 2002 and 2005 Bali bombings and plotting attacks throughout the region. Abu Sayyaf is accused of numerous terror acts in the Philippines, including abductions of US citizens.

Rewards for Justice currently offers cash for tips for several top leaders of the two groups, among them:

• Up to $5 million (euro3.4 million) for Zulkifli bin Hir, a US-educated engineer and member of Jemaah Islamiyah’s central command who is accused of training Abu Sayyaf bomb makers in the Philippines.

• Up to $5 million for Isnilon Hapilon, a member of Abu Sayyaf, who has been indicted in the United States for alleged involvement in terrorist acts against Americans and others in the Philippines.

• Up to $1 million for Umar Patek, a member of Jemaah Islamiyah who is believed to have assisted in the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, including seven US citizens.

Budget proposals in previous years have also asked for increases in rewards funding but none have sought to justify the expenditures by anticipating arrests that would require payouts to informants.

Congress has rejected or reduced similar requests in the past, including last year.

Rewards for Justice has paid some $77 million to more than 50 tipsters since it was created in 1984. At least $10 million of that was paid to four people in the Philippines who provided information that led to the killings of two Abu Sayyaf leaders held responsible for abducting Americans in the Philippines.

The program currently has outstanding bounties worth a total of about $704 million on dozens of terrorist, war crimes and narcotics trafficking suspects, including the up to $25 million bounties on Bin Laden and al-Zawahri.