A reward? For what?

Add another voice to the outcry over the $5 million reward given to flight instructor Clarence Prevost, who first raised concerns to colleagues over Zacarias Moussaoui. But Charles Midby, who supervised two Minnesota immigration agents involved in Moussaoui’s arrest on Aug. 16, 2001, isn’t upset that the reward should’ve been split three ways; he’s upset that there’s any reward at all.

“It’s just so obscene, beyond comprehension,” said Midby to a McClatchey News reporter. “I can understand why the Muslims view us as such a rotten and decadent society when we feel we have to give something like that to an American do his basic responsibility.”

Mark Cangemi, who was the agent in charge for the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement for Minnesota and four other states, was equally upset.

“I’m very concerned that whoever made the decision that this award should be $5 million has now made it into a lottery. “Now it’s, ‘If I give something and it turns into something, I get my $5 million.’ I think this whole thing has been mishandled. … I think it sets a very poor precedent.”

Somewhere, someone knows who decided on the amount of the reward and the recipient. But the State Department isn’t talking. Its Rewards for Justice Web site shows the reward amounts available.