The spy games continue in “AfPak”, but this one ended in tragedy, and may yet have wider and serious repercussions.
The known facts are that a US national, Raymond Davis, driving a car with non-diplomatic plates in Lahore, while stopped at a red light pulled out a Glock 9mm pistol and, firing through the windshield, shot dead two people nearby on a motor cycle. He radioed the US consulate for back up, stepped out of the car and took pictures of the two dead young men with his camera. The backup van came tearing up the wrong side of the dual carriageway, hit a cyclist, killing him on the spot, turned around and sped away. Davis ran off on foot, mingling among the crowds on a side street, but was chased and captured by two traffic wardens.
Taken to a police station, Davis claimed that he fired in self-defence as the men were trying to rob him. The men were also found to be carrying guns, but the autopsy reports show that, of the several bullets that hit each of them, some were in the back. In Davis’s car were found a telescope, a headband with attached flashlight, and a phone tracker, while in his camera were pictures of various military buildings and sites. Several identity cards were found on him, one indicating that he was a Defence Dept contractor.
The US embassy claimed that Davis had diplomatic immunity as he was a diplomat attached to the US consulate in Lahore, but next day changed that to say he was attached to the embassy in Islamabad. One of the identity cards found on him showed him as attached to the consulate in Peshawar. The embassy demanded that he be released from police custody because of his diplomatic immunity. Meanwhile, the Lahore consulate stated that it had no knowledge of the (backup) van that had killed the cyclist.
This incident became front-page news, with follow-up stories every day reporting the latest rumours. Everyone agreed that Davis was an intelligence operative, though speculation varied on what his mission was. A report appeared that the two men shot dead were Pakistani intelligence men (though this was officially denied). Doubts arose as to whether Davis was the American’s real name after the State Dept spokesman said there was some confusion about it. The NYT reported that he was a former Special Forces soldier working as a contractor.
As the Pakistan government dithered, US pressure ratcheted up. A visiting Congressional delegation told President Zardari that US aid would be threatened if Davis were not released immediately. Secretary Clinton refused to meet the Pakistani foreign minister at the Munich security conference, though she did meet the army chief, Gen Kayani, to deliver a stern demand for Davis’s release. Several planned visits to Pakistan by US officials were put on hold. The Pakistan government, scared of public reaction, has publicly said nothing while it continues to wrestle with the issue.
Meanwhile, tragedy struck again in this sorry saga. The families of the slain men reported that they had been approached to accept a large sum of money (as well as ‘green cards’) to drop charges, but had refused. Presumably, other pressures were applied on them by the Pakistani authorities. The 18-year old wife of one of the young men killed, stricken by grief over her loss, and losing hope of any redress, took poison and killed herself. This has further inflamed popular sentiment over the issue, making its resolution even more difficult.
The bomb continues to tick on.
One of the problems the US government has is that the numbers of contractor-Americans is so high that the embassy can't keep track of them, much less supervise them. At best, this is a contractor who was out of control.
Posted by: John Bennett | 09 February 2011 at 05:38 PM
jonst,
One would definitely fire through the windshield in such a situation. I've known it to happen twice. Both times were defensive reactions. The only time that would be a bad idea is if it was an up armored vehicle with a bullet resistant windshield.
Posted by: The Twisted Genius | 09 February 2011 at 05:41 PM
FB Ali,
Davis could have photographed his kills out of force of habit if he was former SOF rather than SF. In the adrenaline rush of the moment, he could have fallen back on old Delta or STS procedures. This is just a guess on my part.
Posted by: The Twisted Genius | 09 February 2011 at 05:47 PM
Thanks for the thread FB, kinda nutty stuff I could never make up for Bohica.
Seriously, how much of this kind of suff can all parties tolerate before they have to turn on us?
Posted by: Charles I | 09 February 2011 at 06:27 PM
It seems unlikely he would photograph victims that he knew vs more likely he would photograph someone he did not know for later identification.
Posted by: bth | 09 February 2011 at 07:05 PM
bth,
Good point! Another version of the incident is that these were Pakistani security personnel tailing him. But if that were so, it is most unlikely that they would confront him. In that case, the self-defence story becomes doubtful. So, what was he trying to hide so desperately that he would kill them just because they had been following him?
Another report says that, after getting out of his car, he pumped some more bullets into the fallen bodies before taking the pictures.
Posted by: FB Ali | 09 February 2011 at 07:42 PM
Jane,
Don't forget the 18-year old widow who killed herself. More collateral damage (always innocents!) from the wars raging in that benighted region.
And there are people making money and building careers from them.
Posted by: FB Ali | 09 February 2011 at 07:49 PM
I believe he photoed for identification. But I am more concerned with the rather poor tradescraft displayed. Is this what our spooks (contractors included)have become? Bill Donovan is rolling in his grave....
Posted by: Jake | 09 February 2011 at 07:50 PM
The basic facts of this incident indicate Davis fired his weapon in self defense. You differ? Then why would a white American fire through his windshield in a poor section of Lahore disabling his vehicle leaving himself amongst the locals. The individuals who died were found to be carrying weapons.
Now we have an American citizen employed in some manner by the US government jailed in a foreign country for defending himself. While the Pakistan government have laws that are reasonable and acceptable the question arises why have the local police forces, after investigating this incident, not ruled that Davis is free and clear due to self defense. Or are they listening to local leaders who are more interested in raising the publics ire.
US government ire is warranted in this case and the Pakistan government should return Davis to their custody. Self Defense and Diplomatic Immunity are evident reasons to do so. Anything else is local propaganda at its fullest.
Posted by: Bobo | 09 February 2011 at 08:15 PM
You pansy asses.
This kind of thing,goes on all over the world,all the time! This one,just gets a little public spin for Pakistani political purposes.
Raymond Davis is an obvious American proponent of GOOD GUN CONTROL. He is great American, bring him home and given him a medal!
Posted by: Highlander | 09 February 2011 at 08:52 PM
I would have included her had I known about her at the point that I posted. She chose to sacrifice herself in an attempt to shame the Pakistani government into providing justice in my estimation.
It is difficult to disentangle facts from this distance ti establish what true justice would be but the location of the shooting is such that it makes sense neither as an indulgence in mindless lethal violence nor a targeted assassination unless Davis had a death wish. There were no feasible escape plans. It does make sense as the actions of a man who believed he was under threat. Arun has a link to Pakistanipal which contains a claim that one of the men Davis shot was carrying a pistol for protection while on his way to court where the killers of his brother were being tried. Whether the brother's killers were on trial is something that could be checked and inexpert handling of a pistol while on a motorcycle could have been a trigger for the killings.
Taking photos of the dead young men could have been simply a means of preserving evidence. Alternative, in the case of a planned assassination, such a photo could have been taken to provide proof that the intended victim was killed.
But with too many differing accounts of the shooting and too few verifiable facts judgment at this time is premature.
Posted by: Jane | 09 February 2011 at 10:19 PM
Information from the other end of the problem. Dell Whited states:
Raymond Davis is a real person...I went to high school with him and he has always been a standup guy. He is out defending and working for our country...so, Harry Bowman you might want to adjust your wiki page. I dont know what capacity he was working in, but before you send him out to slaughter, you might want to take a minute to see that it just wasnt some street thugs but Pakistani intelligence that rolled up on him.
People in the thread have made checks to the relevant year books and the claim looks to be true.
Posted by: Jane | 09 February 2011 at 11:08 PM
Bobo,
How convenient. Two guys are dead from gunshot wounds. The man who shot then says 'self defense'. Case closed? I'm sure we could free up about 10,000 prison cells in America with that standard.
The dead guy run over by the back-up van, guess that is just 'too bad'?
The Pakistani government is in trouble, I suspect they would be more willing to sacrifice the life of one American rather than release him if they felt this would give some kind of stability. I wonder if, however, they won't just follow the example America set and just waterboard Mr. Davis to find out what he knows.
Posted by: Fred | 09 February 2011 at 11:58 PM
GUN CONTROL
Is using both hands.
Hard to do while driving of course.
Posted by: securecare | 10 February 2011 at 12:53 AM
Davis appears to be an incompetent cowboy idiot.
It's obvious he paniced and over re-acted.
I have yet to find a single report of the Pak security guys having fired any weapons.
When you sign up for this kind of work you know the chances you take if you screw up.
No immunity.
Posted by: Cal | 10 February 2011 at 01:02 AM
Nancy K:
As far as electing Obama, that was a team effort!
It took W (8 lonnnggg years), McCain, Palin, 2 botched wars, and a once every 50 years economic catastrophy to elect an African-American president. Something I would never have predicted in my lifetime.
I can only wonder is Sarah will restrain herself in 2012, she could get him elected all on her own at this point.
Posted by: bt | 10 February 2011 at 04:10 PM
Nick Shifrin of ABC News in a Feb 9 report says:
The four Pakistani officials who spoke to ABC News on the condition of anonymity say that the two men who Raymond Davis killed in Lahore last month were working for Pakistan's premiere intelligence service, and they were following Davis because he was spying........
According to the Pakistani officials, the two men had been sent to track Raymond Davis by the Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI, which believed that Davis had crossed "a red line" and needed to be followed.
In late January, those officials say, Davis was asked to leave an area of Lahore restricted by the military. His cell phone was tracked, said one government official, and some of his calls were made to the Waziristan tribal areas, where the Pakistani Taliban and a dozen other militant groups have a safe haven. Pakistani intelligence officials saw him as a threat who was "encroaching on their turf," the official said.
(http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/ray-davis-shooting-pakistan/story?id=12869411&page=1)
Posted by: FB Ali | 10 February 2011 at 05:08 PM
FB
The ABC News story you linked to seems very plausible considering the extent of the threats from the US government. What do you speculate he may have been doing to warrant such high level pressure on Gen. Kayani?
But, it also seems to have become a political nightmare for the Pakistani government if this story gains further traction in the Pakistani media. In your opinion can the Pakistani government bury this story and quietly release Ray Davis? What additional concessions from the US would they want for the release?
Posted by: zanzibar | 10 February 2011 at 06:50 PM
Zanzibar,
There is speculation in the Pakistani media that, instead of simply gathering intelligence, Davis may have been involved in some kind of covert US program to actually finance or orchestrate some of the bombings that have been occurring in Pakistan (based on the stuff found in his car, which included several weapons, ammo and cell phones). Whatever he was doing, it was sensitive enough for him to kill the men whom he discovered were tracking him. All the reports seem to indicate that he shot them in the back in cold blood, i.e, without any hostile move on their part.
If the men he killed were indeed ISI operatives, then the obstacles to his release may be more than just public pressure; the military may be involved. There was a news report that, the day after the shooting, Gen Kayani summoned the Interior Minister to discuss the case. I presume the ISI does not take lightly its men being gunned down on the streets of the country.
A US report speculates that he may be a serving SF soldier rather than a contractor (Dave Lindorff at http://www.thiscantbehappening.net/). That may explain the extreme pressure the US is bringing to bear on Pakistan. I don’t see the US in any mood to buy his release. I agree that the Pakistani government is in a helluva fix, especially if the military is on the warpath. As I said, this case may have quite serious repercussions on US-Pakistan relations.
Posted by: FB Ali | 10 February 2011 at 08:14 PM
Real World IN~trigue..Always bad when things go wrong..and Very Public...Messy..
Thanks Ali..
Posted by: JimTicehurst | 10 February 2011 at 09:53 PM
Jim Ticehurst,
Glad you liked it. As you say: Very messy!
Posted by: FB Ali | 10 February 2011 at 10:01 PM
Tell Hillary to pay the blood money, promise (in private, of course) never to do it again, & she can take Mr. Davis home. Or, keep effing around being the hardass & let the matter fester until it erupts into something uncontrollable, like exposure of his actual mission. I think while everyone has a pretty good idea by now what that was, it has yet to be proven.
Posted by: James ben Goy | 11 February 2011 at 01:47 AM
On Feb 11 Davis was produced before a judge and remanded into custody for 2 weeks.
According to an AP report:
Later in the day, Lahore police chief Aslam Tareen declared that a police investigation into the shootings determined Mr. Davis was not defending himself.
“It was an intentional and cold-blooded murder,” Mr. Tareen told a news conference......
Mr. Tareen said, the slain man's pistol had been examined and officers found that its magazine was loaded with ammunition but no round was in the chamber ready to fire. Police also determined that the American shot and killed the second Pakistani as he tried to flee, hitting him in the back, Mr. Tareen said.
Posted by: FB Ali | 11 February 2011 at 10:21 AM
The worm appears to have turned for Mr. Davis. The BBC is reporting that the police investigation entirely discounts self-defence, based partly on fingerprints, whether the attackers' weapons had rounds chambered.
A Pakistani police chief has said a US citizen in custody over the deaths of two men in Lahore last month was guilty of "cold-blooded murder".
Lahore city police chief Aslam Tareen told a news conference that one of the men was killed while running away.
He spoke after Raymond Davis was remanded for another 14 days following an appearance in a Lahore court.
Mr Davis, 36, has admitted he shot the men, but says he acted in self-defence because they were trying to rob him.
The court has ordered the Pakistani government to clarify US embassy claims that Mr Davis has diplomatic immunity.
He is charged on two counts - murder and possession of illegal weapons.
Mr Tareen told a news conference: "The police investigation and forensic report show it was not self-defence. His plea has been rejected by police investigators. He gave no chance to them to survive".
Mr Tareen also said that forensic evidence did not support Mr Davis's claim that one of the motorbike riders had approached his car window, cocked his gun and pointed it at him.
No fingerprints had been uncovered on the triggers of the pistols found on the bodies of the two men, he said.
And tests had shown that the bullets remained in the magazine of the men's gun, not the chamber.
"It was cold-blooded murder," said Mr Tareen. "Eyewitnesses have told police that he directly shot at them and he kept shooting even when one was running away. It was an intentional murder."
Police officials have previously said that the two men were street robbers, although conspiracy theorists have suggested that the pair were members of Pakistani intelligence.
The American has reportedly been sent to the high-security Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore. His next hearing is scheduled for 25 February.
Wonder who has the movie rights?
Posted by: Charles I | 11 February 2011 at 10:41 AM
FB
The BBC confirms the AP report that you noted.
It would seem that with this statement diplomatic immunity would be trumped due to murder charges.
I am curious about your speculation that Davis was involved in "some kind of covert US program to actually finance or orchestrate some of the bombings that have been occurring in Pakistan". What would be the intent behind such a de-stabilization program? If they want a change in government why wouldn't they just want Gen. Kayani to takeover? Or is it that they would prefer a split in the military with a more compliant officer in charge? I realize we may just be grabbing at straws here but the story is very intriguing in light of the high level extreme pressure from the US government.
Posted by: zanzibar | 11 February 2011 at 11:39 AM