Bush administration paid $5M to Moussaoui tipster, colleagues wonder why

[deminks]

The United States Treasury is $5 million poorer today. The Bush Administration has paid Zacarias Moussaoui's flight instructor a $5 million reward for providing information that led to his arrest and conviction.

Moussaoui had no part in 9/11. He was neither the 5th pilot nor the 20th hijacker, despite having claimed to be both at various times, depending on his mood. Ultimately, he recanted both assertions.

Then there's this:

The reward from the State Department's "Rewards for Justice" program is the first and only one to date to a U.S. citizen related to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the officials said.

It is also unusual because Moussaoui, who was imprisoned at the time of the attacks, was never named as a wanted suspect by the program. The program mainly seeks information about perpetrators or planners of terrorist acts against U.S. interests and citizens abroad.

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/1/24/204653/242

Then look at the CNN version of the story:

(snip)

Clarence "Clancy" Prevost was an instructor at the Pan Am International Flight Academy in Eagan, Minnesota, when Moussaoui was a student there.

Moussaoui, sometimes called the "20th hijacker," is the only person charged and convicted in connection with the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington.

(snip)

Prevost, a retired Northwest Airlines pilot, has never spoken publicly about Moussaoui, but testified during the sentencing phase of Moussaoui's trial. He said that by the second day of teaching Moussaoui, he heard that Moussaoui paid the bulk of his $8,300 tuition for a flight simulator course in hundred-dollar bills. And that made Prevost think the FBI should be notified.

He testified that he found Moussaoui to be a "pretty genial guy" until a lunchtime conversation turned to the Hajj, a pilgrimage to Mecca made by Muslims during Ramadan. Prevost wanted to know if Moussaoui could explain the Hajj to him and asked, "Are you Muslim?"

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/01/24/moussaoui.reward/index.html?section=cnn_latest

quite different from the AP version:

tipster, colleagues wonder why

January 24, 2008
BY MATTHEW LEE and LARA JAKES JORDAN Associated Press

WASHINGTON---- The Bush administration paid a $5 million reward to a former Minnesota flight instructor who provided authorities with information that led to the arrest and conviction of 9/11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui. Two colleagues questioned why he got the money.

The recipient, Clarence Prevost, was honored Thursday at a closed-door ceremony at the State Department, although the payout was secretly authorized last fall by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the Justice Department, U.S. officials told The Associated Press.

(snip)

News of the reward came as a surprise to two other Pan Am flight instructors, Tim Nelson and Hugh Sims, who also have been credited with tipping the FBI to Moussaoui and were honored by the Senate in 2005 with a resolution that commended their ''bravery'' and ''heroism.''

Sims, in a phone interview from Fort Myers, Fla., said he didn't want to comment ''till we get a few things straightened out.''

''He was certainly there but he didn't call the FBI. I have no idea why he received the reward,'' Sims said.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/nation/758580,massaouireward012408.article

[Old and In the Way]

1. Is Prevost a Republican or Democrat?

I'd start with the obvious explanation, first.

[lonestarnot]

2. And then I want to know who his relatives and friends are.

[applegrove]

3. I think it will encourage more reports and I think that is a good thing.

If a Moussaoui was reported again - at this point in time - no stone would be left unturned. The last thing we need is another 9/11.

[Supersedeas]

4. in custody PRIOR TO the attacks, YET they award 9/11 money--WTF

[Octafish]

5. Was the guy rewarded for his silence? FBI did a great job ignoring Moussaoui & Co...

Know your BFEE: The Stench of Moussaoui Permeates the Octopus