US Media Blackout on AFPAK Outrage

[skyhook77sfg]

The Times of India



WASHINGTON: While Washington and much of the world continues to be transfixed by the drama over democracy in Egypt, an ugly

sideshow involving spooks and spying in Pakistan is consuming the Obama administration, redrawing the security contours

with regards to what was once regarded as a stalwart ally.


The Raymond Davis affair, as the episode has come to be known, has become not just curiouser, but also messier. The alleged

private security contractor, who was on the rolls of the US diplomatic mission in Pakistan when he shot dead two Pakistanis

in what he said was in self-defense after they attempted to rob him, is still incarcerated despite US demands that he be

freed because he enjoys diplomatic immunity.


But it turns out that even as Islamabad is publicly resisting American pressure, a section of the Pakistani establishment

has revealed that the two men who were shot were in fact agents of the ISI.


Meanwhile, Shumaila Kanwal, the wife of one of alleged robbers/spies died under mysterious circumstances in a Pakistani

hospital after consuming poison, but not before she met journalists and issued a revenge call, demanding "blood for blood."

Pakistani officials told the Express Tribune in Lahore that the Pakistani government's "tough stance" on the whole issue

was also a "reaction to the attempts by certain elements in Washington to implicate...the ISI in the November 2008 Mumbai

attacks," including the decision by a US court to summon top ISI officials in connections with the attacks.


The incredible drama has greatly soured ties between US and Pakistan, with the growing feeling in Washington that its once

-famed ally is now turning rogue. There is now a demand in some quarters in Washington to turn off the aid spigot vital for

Pakistan's survival, even as there is pressure on the government in Islamabad to hold to account the US whose lifeline to

its troops in Afghanistan runs through Pakistan.

[YMix]

[skyhook77sfg]

DAWN, PAKISTAN
has more strange details....

The recent murder of two Pakistanis by a U.S. “diplomat” Raymond Davis on a busy street of Lahore in full view of the public
forced the Pakistani government to arrest the American suspect. After the shooting and killing Davis called the consulate for help,
a Land Cruiser, came to the scene. The driver of the Land Cruiser went the wrong way down a one-way street and ran over a man
on a motorcycle, killing a third person. The driver of the get-away vehicle and four passengers who came to rescue Davis fled the
scene and are still at large. Despite repeated requests the US Consulate is not revealing any information about the driver.

The US authorities claim that the name of the man arrested for the double murder is not Raymond Davis. The US State
Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said, “We have not released the identity of our employee at this point”; however, he
denied the man’s name is Raymond Davis. The US Embassy in Pakistan says that the man in Pakistan’s custody is a diplomat
with a valid US diplomat passport and visa. But the copies of passport and visa of Davis obtained by Dawn News show that
his name is Raymond Alan Davis, his passport is not of a diplomat and he was not on diplomatic visa but he came to Pakistan
on a business visa. The US first claimed that Davis is a “Technical Adviser” and “Counselor”. Later his designation is
changed to “functionary” of the US Consulate. However, ABC News says, Davis is an employee of Hyperion Protective
Consultants LLC, a private security company based in Orlando, Florida.

Davis’ claim that he killed the two men in self-defense is spoiled when one considers that all the bullet wounds were found
in the back of the dead bodies. Also, no shot was fired from the guns recovered on the bodies of the dead Pakistanis. His
other claim that he is immune from arrest and prosecution by the virtue of his diplomatic status is also proven empty, as
neither his passport nor the visa is diplomatic.

The Washington Post in its report of January 27 puts a new twist to the already complicated storyline, and even adds a dose
of suspense. Here is what the Post says, “A senior former U.S. diplomatic security agent suggested Thursday that the
American involved in a fatal shootout in Lahore, Pakistan, was the victim of a spy meeting gone awry, not the target of a
robbery or car-jacking attempt.” The Post quoted Fred Burton, a former deputy chief of the US Diplomatic Security Service’s
counter-terrorism division who worked on several major terrorism cases in the 1980s and 1990s, as saying: “It looks like an
informant meet gone bad more than a car-jacking attempt.”

If we consider what a diplomat fluent in Urdu with automatic weapons and a large sum of money in a rented car was doing in
the part of town that has been scene of terror bombing, Burton’s theory of “an informant meet gone bad” appears highly
credible. Diplomats do not travel in a locally rented car and go cruising with large sums of money and automatic weapons in
the not so desirable part of the town. It is very plausible that Davis was on a mission and the mission went awry.
Pakistanis strongly suspect U.S. hands in the terror bombings in their country.

OhOh

Cowboys In Action ?

[skyhook77sfg]

hot potato getting hotter....


The mystery of American Raymond A. Davis, currently imprisoned in the custody of local police in Lahore, Pakistan and
charged with the Jan. 27 murder of two young men, whom he allegedly shot eight times with pinpoint accuracy through his car
windshield, is growing increasingly murky. Also growing is the anger among Pakistanis that the US is trying to spring him
from a Punjab jail by claiming diplomatic immunity. On Feb. 4, there were massive demonstrations, especially in Lahore,
demanding that Davis be held for trial, an indication of the level of public anger at talk of granting him immunity.

Davis (whose identity was first denied and later confirmed by the US Embassy in Islamabad), and the embassy have claimed
that he was hired as an employee of a US security company called Hyperion Protective Consultants, LLC, which was said to be
located at 5100 North Lane in Orlando, Florida. Business cards for Hyperion were found on Davis by arresting officers.

First, there is not and never has been any such company located at the 5100 North Lane address. It is only an empty
storefront. The Florida Secretary of State’s office, meanwhile, which requires all Florida companies, including LLSs (limited liability
partnerships), to register, has no record, current or lapsed, of a Hyperion Protective Consultants, LLC.


Even the information about what actually transpired is sketchy at this point. American media reports have Davis driving in
Mozang, a busy commercial section of Lahore, and being approached by two threatening men on motorcycles. The US says he
fired in self-defense, through his windshield with his Beretta pistol, remarkably hitting both men four times and killing
both. He then exited his car and photographed both victims with his cell phone, before being arrested by local Lahore
police. Davis, 36, reportedly a former Special Forces officer, was promptly jailed on two counts of murder, and despite
protests by the US Embassy and the State Department that he is a “consular official” responsible for “security,” he
continues to be held pending trial.

What has not been reported in the US media, but which reporter Shaukat Qadir of the Pakistani Express Tribune, says has
been stated by Lahore police authorities, is that the two dead motorcyclists were each shot two times, “probably the fatal
shots,” in the back by Davis. They were also both shot twice from the front. Such ballistics don’t mesh nicely with a
protestation of self-defense.

Also left unmentioned in the US media is what else was found in Davis’ possession. Lahore police say that in addition to
the Beretta he was still holding, and three cell phones retrieved from his pockets, they found a loaded Glock pistol in his
car, along with three full magazines, and a “small telescope.” Again, heavy arms for a consular security officer not even
in the act of guarding any embassy personnel, and what’s with the telescope? Also unmentioned in US accounts: his car was
not an embassy vehicle, but was a local rental .....

HERTZ?

OUCH

[YMix]

[CgDs]

[skyhook77sfg]

all you have to do is google his name ...

but here's a start for you...


haroonhaider.com/.../ramond-davis-task-force-orange-and-compromised-mission-in-lahore/

http://www.opednews.com/.../Unfolding-d ... ttar-Ghaza

and abcnews.com is finally picking up the story.

my sources say the two shot dead were armed but weapons were found unfired.

in any event, shooting two motorcyclists through your windshield fatally while driving says quite a bit about the shooter's exceptional training.

[monster_gardener]

[jerryberry]

French for hmmmm or reflecting on something, I think

[monster_gardener]

[YMix]

Oh. It means something like "would you look at that", "how about that", "what do you know" or "well, well" in French.

[Azrael]

Mercenary, not diplomat. They should make him squeal. The trial could be very . . . informative.

[Hans Bulvai]

[YMix]

Private contractor, not mercenary. According to the (obsolete?) definition, a mercenary is a professional soldier hired for service in a foreign army.

[Ibrahim]

No doubt the US would like to spring him before he decides to explain exactly what he was doing and why, or someone makes him.

I've never understood the fetish for these spy-movie antics. Basically these "operators" are just serial murderers. Though one expects the victims weren't candidates for sainthood either. (assuming he shot the "right" people)

The lack of press is surprising. It's a pretty good yarn, if you like that sort of thing.

[Demon of Undoing]

Remember that most impressions about " Operators" and " antics" come from watching movies. Other than that , exactly how much experience with " these types of things" does anybody here actually have ( besides skyhook) ?

Any shooting requires a hesitation in judgement. Not only do we not know any facts beyond the barest of bones , but it's not like we have unbiased reporting. The facts we know may not be facts at all.

While I am greatly opposed to what we are doing in the region and want us out , and am entirely willing to believe a fellow of this general profile was up to some sort of black bag hijinks , it's not got to immediately be a cold blooded murder. There are , to put it mildly , complicating circumstances. I mean , I am sure those ISI guys were just minding their own business on a Sunday drive. The poisoned wife has nothing to do with anything. And I have some protected wetlands in the Everglades I'd like you to help me preserve ...

Incidentally , the telescope isnt necessarily a big deal. I carry a compact Leica 8x/rangefinder in my fag bag , only takes up as much room as a small paperback. Handy for very mundane tasks- if you can keep people from looking at you strangely , you'd be amazed what you can see. As an inveterate noticer of the mundane yet absurd , I recommend it highly. The Glock and three mags were not there so he could be heavily armed- two pistols in that environment ( or four, for that matter) will not qualify for heavy. That was a piece for someone else , with two spare mags , a standard setup. He was going to pick somebody up , probably somebody American.

If we are going to make conjecture , that is.

[YMix]

[monster_gardener]

[Demon of Undoing]

One of .

A fine product of Portugal. Thanks Endo.

[skyhook77sfg]

The conjecture Davis is a Xe/Blackwater type is unlikely. The false front papers point elsewhere....

perhaps Christians In Action paramilitary...

possibly sheepdipped special forces operator on TDY to above named agency...

or most likely from The Activity...

see below unclassified open source info...

the book listed last is surprisingly frank.






Intelligence Support Activity | The Activity | Gray Fox
Delta Force-trained soldiers who act as the unit's 'shooters'. Since its inception, the Activity has been providing invaluable intelligence and support to ...
isa.americanspecialops.com/ -




US Army Intelligence Support Activity | Specwar.info ||
Intelligence Support Activity provides US special forces with intelligence gatherers, man hunters, assassins and deep penetration agents. ...
en.specwar.info/.../US_Army_Intelligence_Support_Activity/ -




Blank spots on the map: the dark geography of the Pentagon's ... - Google Books Result
Trevor Paglen - 2009 - History - 324 pages
... one of the most secret units in the Army, the Intelligence Support Activity (ISA). ... Delta Force "shooters," and ISA signals intelligence operators. ...
books.google.com/books?isbn=0525951016.

[I am ST]

Danke schoen, just got it from the uni library.

[skyhook77sfg]

keine ursache.

mein vergnuegen.

nichts zu danken.

[skyhook77sfg]

Latest frm today's DAWN.COM

KARACHI: An investigation team has found maps and other ‘spying equipment’ from the possession of Raymond Davis, an American official involved in the killing of two men in Lahore.

According to sources, the team had recovered a pistol, facial make-up, ATM cards of five different banks, wireless set and pictures of different areas of Multan, Sargodha and Lahore.

The team also found a GPS tracker, telescope, passport, two mobile phones, valet and a dairy.....



MY OH MY getting heavy...


Multan is the birthplace of the Bhutto-led Pakistasn nuclear weapons progrtam....

has a heavy water production facility disguised as a fertilizer plant...

and Sarghoda is where chineese experts teach Pak military how to use chineese nuclear capable missiles stored there.



will not sit well with the owners of these facilities and 80% of Pak industry....

the Pak officer corps.

big interests are clashing here...

stay tuned.

[Azrael]

[skyhook77sfg]

you mean like jonathan pollard?