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Raymond Davis on the day of his arrest. (screengrab from YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-kcRDhatoM)
With all of the attention on Japan in the past few days, I missed the scheduled hearing date of March 14 for Raymond Davis’ immunity question to be settled. It turns out the Lahore High Court punted on that issue on the 14th, and referred the immunity question back to the criminal trial which was underway but in recess. Today, however, Davis was released after payment of blood money to the surviving family members of his victims. This is likely not to go over well in Pakistan, where a group of ex-military members yesterday called for Davis to be waterboarded, in order to eliminate his “network”.
Here is Dawn on the release:
A Pakistan court on Wednesday freed CIA contractor Raymond Davis, who was accused of murdering two men in Lahore, after blood money was paid in accordance with sharia law, the Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said.
“The family members of the slain men appeared in the court and independently verified they had pardoned him (Davis),” provincial law minister Rana Sanaullah told private Geo television.
“He has been released from jail. Now it is up to him. He can go wherever he wants,” he added.
Initial reports from sources state that Davis has been flown to London.
A sessions court has acquitted Davis. Earlier in the day, a sessions court judge in Lahore had formally indicted US national Davis.
On Monday, the Lahore High Court had refused to rule on the question of diplomatic immunity for Davis, sending the question back to the sessions court where he was being tried in the murder case:
The Lahore High Court (LHC) ruled on Monday that the matter of immunity for US citizen Raymond Davis will be decided by the trial court, and disposed of all petitions challenging his diplomatic status in Pakistan.
When the government replied vaguely on the issue, LHC Chief Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry silenced petitioners’ lawyers — who created pandemonium after hearing unclear replies submitted by the foreign ministry, — by observing that since the Davis trial was in progress, the trial court should be allowed to “adjudicate on this matter”.
Questioning the government counsel if his side had submitted any letter establishing his diplomatic status, the chief justice said that if the foreign ministry did not issue any letter for the diplomatic status of the accused, why should the court insist on submitting such a certificate?
As a preview of how badly Davis’ release will be received in Pakistan, consider this call from a group of ex-servicemembers yesterday for Davis to be waterboarded:
The 2,000-member strong Pakistan Ex-Servicemen Association (PESA) is joining political parties, religious groups and security officials by diving headfirst into the chatter over the Raymond Davis issue. It plans to stage a protest in Islamabad on March 23 to raise awareness about “issues of national interest”, including the case of Raymond Davis.
/snip/
The demands laid out in an e-mail sent to PESA’s members call for the use of interrogation techniques such as waterboarding.
The e-mail says: “Raymond Davis is seen as a saboteur operating as a mercenary for the destabilisation of Pakistan, under the protection of the US government. He has been creating and executing threats to the security of our citizens and homeland. He must be fully interrogated using all methods (including water-boarding) that are used by the US against those who act against the security of the US. His network and methods must be followed and eliminated. Probability of other mercenaries/CIA operated networks must be investigated through him.”
According to a 2004 CIA report, 9/11 suspect Khalid Shaikh Mohammad was waterboarded 183 times. The report defined the technique: “The application of the waterboard technique involves binding a detainee to a bench with his feet elevated over his head. The detainee’s head is immobilised and an interrogator places a cloth over the detainee’s mouth and nose while pouring water onto the cloth in a controlled manner. Airflow is restricted for 20 to 40 seconds and the technique produces the sensation of drowning and suffocation.”
I will watch for reports of reaction to Davis’ release.
101 Comments
Shocking beyond belief.
Well thank goodness for that. Any other result and we might have to accept living in a world where actions have consequences for the perpetrator.
Killing people: OK; telling the world about illegal government actions: solitary confinement
From the twitters:
Yep.
Yup. This is not going to go over well at all.
Spencer Ackerman just asked via Twitter how much blood money was paid. I piled on, asking if the US taxpayers are the ones who paid.
I don’t approve of my tax dollars being used in this way.
Disgusting…………..
I wonder how much the Pakistani’s extracted from the US government for this one. They are going to take a lot of heat for releasing him, and the price should have been pretty awesome.
So America buys it’s way out of trouble again. Honestly that bastard, guilty of murder, should be in a gaol in Pakistan for the rest of his miserable bloody life. I would not be surprised if the White House Whore did not give him a fucking medal.
Of course Bradley Manning, still not guilty of any crime, is in a gaol in America being tortured with the blessing of the White House Whore. No wonder the world thinks America is the evil empire because it really is.
I wonder if the anti-sharia crowd will condemn this …
Of course not. The victims were filthy, brown Muslims.
You don’t think for one bloody minute that Blackwater paid…but that would be our tax money anyway.
Inevitable. And. Horrible.
wow.
I expect nothing less for an Exceptional American killing for an Exceptional Unitary Executive who’s an agent for the wishes the Exceptional American corporations i.e. the richest 1%, who of course can afford blood money. Just the cost of doing business as they say.
I’m sorry but when Ackerman left due to your uncomfortable Manning coverage, I lost a lot of respect for the guy. I understand he has to protect his main gig and all but that really makes his outrage over Davis lack credulity.
The important message being sent out to would-be assassins is that if you kill for the right people, you have infinite protection.
Morning! Just a quick drive-by before I go out the door.
I thought Spencer left because this is an advocacy blog and the Senate wasn’t going to let him keep his Press Credentials if he stayed here. They would if he was just at The Windy and Wired.
O.T. Goddamn but Harry Reid is a useless waste of skin:
Diplomacy is where its at people. You know, that admirable profession, where intelligent people reason with one another appealing to each other’s sense of decency and the over-all best outcomes for all interested parties.
oh wait, that’s the wrong definition, my bad. I mean diplomacy, where we send in mercs to assassinate people, run over innocents in the street and then pay off some bribes to cover up the mess.
Jeremy Scahill:
We should let them waterboard him. It isn’t torture, right???
Yup.
Yep, that’s what he said. Not sure I’m buying it due to the circumstances and timing though.
Good morning back. :)
All the reports said that if the Pakistani government released Davis, it would topple.
Part of the deal for Davis’ release must include crowd control support from the US.
From Retuers:
Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/16/us-pakistan-usa-idUSL3E7EG15T20110316
The repugs could cut the budget big time if those like Davis were not bailed out with tax dollars.
What the heck are they thinking? A few piddley little bucks here and there for middle class and poor programs is nothing in comparison to the billions being spent on the war programs. Heck! We haven’t even declared war on anybody. It’s madness.
They’ll just activate HAARP and Karachi will split open and swallow the protesters, leaving only the government supporters alive.
It is not much different from what we call American justice – only more direct and a bit more costly to the rich and powerful – with less cost for lawyers.
Families of the two Pakistanis he killed were given “blood money” and the Raymond Davis case was dropped – charged with murder Wednesday but then immediately pardoned by the families of the victims in exchange for compensation or “blood money”, as is permitted under Pakistani law.
In the US, the money would have been a fine paid to the Court and perhaps community service volunteered for PR purposes – assuming a lawyer did not get him off as in the OJ case – the rich and powerful do not get “justice” in the US that is much different than they would get in Pakistan.
That is why the rich only fear the mob – the unions/the marches – indeed violence. Indeed that is why the rich should pay near 100% of all taxes because the infrastructure of military and police is 95% to keep harm from folks like Koch and especially the Koch assets, and to keep Grover Norquist (president of “taxpayer advocacy group” Americans for Tax Reform) from having to look out his window of his mother’s house in Weston, Mass and see a crowd of angry people.
No one has the right to dismiss this as an outlandish claim.
http://bigdanblogger.blogspot.com/2011/03/big-dans-big-news-march-12-2011.html#
Not today. Please.
Not just outlandish but B.U.L.L.S.H.I.T.. What are you gonna do since I had no right to dismiss your bullshit claim? Call me names? Take away my birthday? Get some help.
It is not surprising this kind of thing happens under Obama. He has to protect murderers, after all he is one himself. How many more innocents will be murdered in our name? The death of empire could not have happened under any less moral person. Now we have drones killing innocents in Mexico. How long before they are killing people on the streets of this country?
I blame HAARP for that too.
So, now, President Obama paid a Bribe in order to Obstruct Justice and Conspire In a Murder After the Fact.
Where’s the Democratic Party? Where’s the Republican Party?
It says in the Constitution that when a President commits “High Crimes or Misdemeanors” he must be removed from office.
What about that?
WHAT?!?!
Life in Washington and even in America is becoming more and more like a Hollywood thriller where the “good guys’ always prevail (at least to satisfy the perceived audience).
It’s getting harder and harder to separate reality from what passes as NeoAmerican Politics.
:-)
“in accordance with sharia law”
Who would make such a law?
That HAARP gets around!
Yup. Looks like they put the families’ lawyers in jail while the families signed the papers on the “pardon”. This is going to get really ugly.
The wife of one of the victims has already killed herself, by taking rat poison. She said she did it because she knew “Davis” would go free.
IOKIYAMOTU
heh, “the Moby Dick of conspiracy theories”
But a prison in sand is a haven in hell
For a gaol can give you a goal
I get that you mean violent but as far as I’m concerned it’s already about as ugly as it gets. Wonder how many broken fingers they have among them?
BBC has more:
Only a quarter billion in cost in 12 years and yet all of that destruction and devastation it’s created around the world? Talk about efficiency…
What’s the surprise? Congressional Democrats are just Republicans who lie more about their intentions.
Sounds like a scene from the Godfather with Davis in the role of Johnny Fontaine.
wow. it’s getting worse …
Via email from twolf, Nick Schifrin of ABC News has the blood money payment amounts:
Slight clarification: 60 million rupees ($700,000) paid to each family of 2 men who Raymond #Davis killed. #Pakistan.
Link: http://twitter.com/nickschifrin/status/48020168273690624
Okay, I’ve read and re-read my comment and I don’t see where surprise is even implied.
Terrific. Now they’ve created terrorists that can afford weapons.
Sharia law. This is funny.
This is the sort of resolution every government would attempt. What’s wrong is the US game plan in Afghanistan/Pakistan/Iraq. Assuming it has one beyond more war, war. And more, that this episode will affect no change in US ops; for a while, we’ll clue the Pakistani intelligence and military services in on what we’re doing, but pretty soon, we’ll start forgetting to do it.
Hell, they can buy their own network of young suicide bombers!
Since the Pakistani intelligence and military services do not agree on helping our objectives – with the intel ISI actively and opening supporting Osama and the Taliban as counterweights to “India’s influence” – it might be best to immediately go back to not telling them what we are doing.
On the other hand what we are doing is wrong for America and for humanity – just provides a welfare check to our MIC folks making the rich richer.
Maybe telling them what we are doing is indeed the best course.
“In a surprising move…”
Not YOUR surprise, the Politico’s.
MSNBC has the total amount paid, saying the US government paid it and claims DOJ will open an “investigation”:
Link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42106866
I’m sure David Margolis is stocking up on whiteout in preparation for the investigation…
The real question is, are the reports in the Indian and Pakistani press about Davis collaborating with the Taliban as an agent provocateur correct? Is that why Obama and Clinton have been so desperate to get this 2 bit redneck hitman released? Sounds like a good reason to appoint an independent counsel, because it would be the biggest political scandal in US history and could expose Obama and Biden to impeachment, removal and capital felony charges–and to a Boehner presidency! Would the Senate Democrats vote for removal? If the charges were substantiated, they’d have no choice. Let Bradley go and put Saddam Hussain Obama in solitary confinement.
Here’s a tweet from Jeremy Scahill that is probably worth investigating:
Whoa: The US embassy statement on Ray Davis’s “pardon” is dated March 10. WTF? http://1.usa.gov/i8uota #Pakistan
Infuriating!
How many teachers, for example, would that pay?
Everyone’s going to have their own tale to spin, but so you know where some of the Pakistan reaction is coming from, neighbors are saying that the families haven’t been seen for two days and their houses are locked up and deserted; the lawyer for part of the family says they were forced to agree after being jailed first; other reports are that the family has been flown out of the country.
ONe thing we do know, it’s time to apologize to all those guys who want to pass laws preventing the US Gov from using Sharia law. Apparently Obamaco HAS implemented plans to successfully use Sharia.
Some of the gov related sources are selling this as a win of a sorts, since he was never given immunity and since it is Pakistani law on blood money that was used to obtain his release, not gov surrender.
Not playing very well to the crowds apparently. Punjab gov is scrambling to disassociate itself from the release. US is spinning hard that there is going to be some kind of credible DOJ investigation and possible prosecution. Apparently that’s the statement being floated in lieu of hiring a comedian to entertain the crowds.
I thought we were against using Sharia law – now we are paying to enforce it? I am sure the teabaggers will be on this right away.
A number of new articles have been posted at the Dawn. com website.
Titles include:
Davis weeps after release, say reports
Davis leaves Pakistan
US ambassador thanks Pak, affected families on Davis’s release
US to probe CIA contractor killings in Lahore
From the first one:
But the most important has the headline reads “Release of Davis prompt clashes” and has this:
If that conjecture is true (and it may well be), we can expect to see it dribble out at some point in the future. No doubt the USGOV paid a hefty sum to keep that from happening, and the Pakistani government has good reason not to infuriate the crowd more than it is already, but there are other interests engaged. If he was piddling with provocation, we will hear about it before summer.
Reuters: “Sec. of State Clinton denies US paid ‘blood money’ to obtain release of Raymond Davis”
None of this is surprising.
The term “blood money”, btw, reminds me that individuals at high-risk of capture by the “enemy” (such as Special Operations folk on an assignment) are supposed to carry what the military calls a “blood chit”.
Seems like paying “blood money” is SOP for the U.S. government.
Perhaps she was assured the CIA used non-government funds in the transaction.
Wow. What a document that is.
And I remember reports of the consular vehicle that ran over the Pakistani citizen leaving behind a bit of fabric with an American flag on it. I wonder if it was a blood chit?
I’d forgotten that small piece of information. It probably was. I presume that foreign governments and police/military/intel know what it is. Even reporting it is would be a signal of U.S. intent to reward return.
So once again, American taxpayers are paying $$$?
I’m looking forward to that stateside ‘investigation.’
Just last week, the ex-CIA station chief in Algeria, Andrew Warren, got 5 1/2 years in the pokey for sexual assault plus various drugs and weapons charges. The assault happened on US Embassy ground so the investigation and legal proceedings all took place in the US.
http://www.rferl.org/content/cia_sentenced_prison_algeria_sex_assault/2327662.html
Despicable.
…except Johnny Fontaine only wanted out of his contract with the bandleader and wasn’t singing for the CIA.
Wonder who got to play Luca Brasi in this farce? was it the Pakistani Military or the ISI who pressured the families?
Will you stop HAARPing on this topic?
The money was paid on Raymond Davis’ benefit by a third party. SO it is income.
Will Raymond have to include this money on his next tax return?
None – we no longer pay teachers.
This shouldn’t surprise anyone. Sicken, yes. But surprise, no.
It’s the same offer the U.S. makes to everyone: “you take our money or we take your life.”
We’re quite publicly killing thousands and spending billions to conduct this pipeline war. The families clearly understood, just like people who threaten to testify against other branches of organized crime, that under no circumstance would they get justice.
Their only choice was whether they wanted to live.
I’m glad he was given counseling and medication – that’s humane given the situation. It just puts in stark contrast how we handle the “non-persons” who are brown enough or have strange enough names to be disappeared away for not a couple months, but years of torture layered on psychological trauma layered on more torture. Not much treatment or coddling for them, even though they didn’t stalk people down to kill them.
The sad thing is that they even keep mentioning the DOJ investigation. DOJ is laughable enough as it is – do they really have to give hem another instance where they will discredit the US and what had been our justice system, once again, for all the world to see and once again crawl on their belly to bootlick the ill-legal theorum of state secrets to cover depravity and murder?
Well,wasn’t toppling the Pakistani government the plan anyway?
And he wasn’t even stripped naked,nightly.
Justice can still be gotten.
What people don’t realize is that one man’s freedom is another man’s terror.
And one man’s “law” is another man’s “crime.”
We live in a world where “law” and “crime” are merely code words for “I win” and “you lose.”
The powerful have “laws.” The weak commit “crimes.”
“Justice” has been defined as “I win.”
“Law” is defined as “The Winner is always right.”
So, taking those definition, can we all see now how “JUSTICE” can still happen for those families? It can happen. When “law” becomes synonymous with “winner is always right” then we can easily see how “those in the right” can win.
Justice will come to Raymond Davis. But don’t expect a Court of Law to know the first damn thing about “justice” or “law” anymore. We live in a different world now.
My guess is that he’ll argue that a corporate entity paid it on his behalf, and that he is some kind of “politician” (since he also tried to argue he was some kind of “diplomat”). And then, voila! Corporations that pay Politicians results in politicians not having to disclose who paid them, and not counting it as income, and corporations not being limited in how much they pay the politician!
Like I have said – “law” is merely the application of power by those who have it against those who don’t. And “justice” is the synonym for “I got mine.”
non-government funds… like drug money perhaps? Or simply corporate cash from a Citizens United Slush Fund? [I'm only being half-sarcastic.] :)
(thanks for the post Jim. This is a great bit of reporting you have done on this entire Davis affair. Pity the majority of Americans still have no clue who is or what he has done.)
You’re right. For all the hoopla and agitation over Wikileaks and those darned cables, the Government seems to miss the most obvious observation – its own actions, on a daily fucking basis, do more to undermine American credibility and diplomatic leverage than anything those cables could have done! They torture Bradley Manning on the assumption he *might* have been involved with the cables, while they act out in full light of day the very things those cables exposed.
Who needs to read Wikileaks anymore? We can simply listen to President Obama and his adivors and see more clownfoolery than anything the cables could reveal!
Of course, we paid. He was a CIA asset. That’s the only way they could get him out.
If the word “Sharia” was replaced with “Proposed” the Know-nothings would be all for that kind of Law.
Violence is NEVER the answer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
People are finally waking up. That’s good.
People pay sham taxes; on average, Americans receive more from the Gov than they pay in, except for a fraction of the middle class.
Whether you get more or less than the average determines “winners” and “losers”.
I hope you are not alluding to “God”.
Guardian said the US paid 2.1 million for his releasse.
Obama’s DOJ is opneing an investigation into this?
HA HA HA HA HA HA.
The date co-insides with the meeting between the Interior Minister and the Saudi ambassador in brokering a deal for Davis’s release.
This would assume the deal was struck on the 10th and it was just a matter of getting the families to cooperate.
It gives the “Sec. of State Clinton denies US paid ‘blood money’ to obtain release of Raymond Davis” credibility, except the money probably went from the US to Saudi to Pakistan.
The Pakistani’s are about as happy with their government as we are with ours, only exception is they will probably do something about it.
Charlie Sheen Economics-WINNING or..
Phil Gramm WHINING
Jim, RTT is reporting…
Acquittal Of CIA Contractor Sparks Violent Protests In Pakistan