Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Raymond Davis taken into custody in Pakistan
Classified a “diplomat” by the Obama administration until Monday, the man arrested in Pakistan for killing two men in Lahore has turned out to be employed by the CIA.
After conducting interviews in the U.S. and Pakistan, the British newspaper The Guardian concluded that Raymond Davis was a former Army Special Forces soldier now employed by the CIA. One senior Pakistani intelligence official was quoted as saying, “It’s beyond a shadow of a doubt” that Davis was working for the spy agency at the time he gunned down two Pakistanis.
Following The Guardian story, U.S. officials admitted Davis was a security contractor working for the CIA.
Like other American news outlets, The New York Times initially sat on the story of Davis working for the CIA, after the administration asked that the information not be released while he was still in Pakistani custody. U.S. officials have argued the revelation could put Davis’ life at risk.
But once The Guardian published its story, and the CIA lifted its requested hold, the Times produced its own account, which described Davis as being part of “a covert, CIA-led team collecting intelligence and conducting surveillance on militant groups deep inside the country.”
Davis has been charged with murder by Pakistani police. He shot the two men allegedly for trying to rob him while he was driving through Lahore. Local authorities say the American was found to be carrying a Glock handgun, a flashlight attached to a headband, a pocket telescope, three cell phones, facial disguises and multiple ID cards.
He is reported to have worked for years for as a mercenary for the CIA, including as a period with Xe, the private security contractor formerly known as Blackwater.
Although Davis claimed that he was acting in self-defense, witnesses and the post-mortem examination stated that the two dead men were each shot in the back as well as the front. Davis shot the men through his windshield, got out of his car, shot them again, including in the back, and then photographed their bodies with a digital camera.
Early reports also claimed that a third Pakistani, an innocent bystander on a motor bike, was killed by another American car rushing to the scene to help Davis. The Pakistani police report on the incident has added that the unmarked Toyota Land Cruiser was driving the wrong way on a one-way street. As it sped back to the U.S. consulate, the American driver left behind 100 bullets, a black mask and a piece of cloth with an American flag. U.S. authorities insist that the Americans in the Toyota have already left Pakistan.
Many Pakistanis have been enraged by the news of an armed American gunning down local citizens. If the U.S. convinces the Pakistan government to turn Davis over to American authorities, Egyptian-style anti-government protests could erupt, analysts say.
The government has said it will wait until March 14 to decide what to do with Davis.
-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky
American Held in Pakistan Worked With C.I.A. (by Mark Mazzetti, Ashley Parker, Jane Perlez and Eric Schmitt, New York Times)
American Who Sparked Diplomatic Crisis over Lahore Shooting Was CIA Spy (by Declan Walsh and Ewen MacAskill, The Guardian)
American Who Killed 2 Pakistanis…What was His Job in Pakistan? (by Noel Brinkerhoff and David Wallechinsky, AllGov)
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