PDA

View Full Version : Pakistani court to proceed with CIA employee trial



Deepsepia
03-03-2011, 09:08 PM
this is a very high risk situation. In an ideal outcome, its winds up OK, but its easy to imagine a bunch of less-than-ideal outcomes. Lot of potential for ugliness, and no obvious face-saving measure


LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — A Pakistani court said Thursday it would proceed with the trial of an American CIA contractor arrested for shooting dead two Pakistanis, but held off on charging him, lawyers for both sides said. The court also said there was no evidence that Raymond Allen Davis had diplomatic immunity as his lawyers and Washington insist, they said.

The decision was a blow to Washington, which says Raymond Allen Davis is considered a diplomat and has protected status from prosecution. The immunity issue, however, is still being considered by the Lahore High Court, which could override Thursday's finding by the trial court.

The case has severely strained the relationship between the U.S. and Pakistan, whose alliance is considered a critical part of ending the war in Afghanistan. Washington insists Davis was acting in self-defense against robbers. The Pakistani government, fearful of public backlash, has yet to make a determination on whether Davis has immunity and said the matter is up to the courts.

Davis appeared for the first time with defense counsel during Thursday's hearing.

"The court did not stop the trial on the basis of immunity," said his attorney, Zahid Bokhari, after the morning proceeding.

Asad Manzoor Butt, a lawyer representing victims in the case, said the next trial court hearing was set for March 8. The Lahore High Court is expected to take up the immunity question again on March 14.

In Washington, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said the U.S. is "concerned that the proceedings are ongoing." He said American officials "continue to stress to the Pakistani government and to the Pakistani courts that he has full immunity from criminal prosecution."

U.S. officials initially described Davis as a consulate or embassy employee, but have since said on condition of anonymity that he was doing security work in Pakistan as a contractor for the CIA. They have said this does not make any difference to his right to diplomatic immunity.

Last month, President Barack Obama referred to him as "our diplomat" and demanded he be freed.

Along with the two men Davis shot, a third Pakistani was killed when struck by a U.S. car rushing to aid the American on Jan. 27 in the eastern city of Lahore.

Some members of Congress are threatening to cut off development funds to Pakistan if Davis is kept much longer in jail. Obama, seeking to enlist Pakistan's support in helping it fight the Taliban in Afghanistan, has authorized the release of $7.5 billion in aid over five years to shore up the country.

The case also has inflamed tensions between the CIA and Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency. Both agencies do not speak to the media in detail about their operations, but it appears the ISI is either angry at the CIA for carrying out activities in the country without its knowledge, or embarrassed at being caught out at allowing them to operate apparently independently.

Godfather
03-03-2011, 09:15 PM
I read about this one the other day... sooo dicey. It's going to be interesting to see how this pans out. What's your thoughts on it deep?


Kind of fitting, CIA agents getting in shite.. I'm just reading The Bear and the Dragon right now :lol:

AntZ
03-03-2011, 10:00 PM
What's amazing is the total weakness the Obama Administration has created for itself, they demand that this American must be released, and the Pakistanis just brush it off! :-s

Bravo Obama, the world just loves you! :haha:

Deepsepia
03-03-2011, 10:45 PM
What's amazing is the total weakness the Obama Administration has created for itself, they demand that this American must be released, and the Pakistanis just brush it off! :-s


Not really a fair assessment. Pakistan is in the middle of a civil war. The people of Pakistan hate us. They hated us under Bush, and they still hate us.

We've managed to get permission from the Pakistani government for the US to operate covertly on their territory -- that's an extraordinary breach of a nation's sovereignty. We'd never allow anything remotely like that.

If a foreign diplomat shot two Americans in the US, we'd demand that the foreign nation waive diplomatic immunity. If they didn't, we'd shut down their Embassy and missions.



I read about this one the other day... sooo dicey.

I think people in Washington are shitting their pants. Its a seriously ugly situation, and could become a disaster.

Look at what it took to set off the Tunisian revolution -- basically one guy setting himself on fire.

Now Tunisia was actually a rather well run, fairly modern country.

Pakistan is a disaster area by contrast to Tunisia, and its a disaster area which is:

home to al Qaeda
has 30 (?) nukes or more.
Active Islamist movement, already assassinating people.


Not only do you worry about Pakistani opinion, you have to worry about US opinion. If they put a US diplomat/operator on trial and jail him, I think you could see a complete cut off of US air to Pakistan. Politically, it would be the easiest thing in the world to vote for . . .

And that's not even the worst outcome.

Let's imagine that the Islamists decide that rather than having a trial, they want to lynch the guy. Given what we're seeing in Pakistan, that's a widespread sentiment.

Now, at some point the US is going to say "we can't let that happen".

We've got a lot of forces in the area, and its possible that a rescue attempt, or some kind of interdiction against Pakistani forces, would be attempted.

There are a lot of ways you can see this ending badly.

Southern Belle
03-03-2011, 10:49 PM
We need to get the guy out of there by whatever means and cut diplomatic ties with Pakistan. The are not our ally.

Deepsepia
03-03-2011, 11:46 PM
We need to get the guy out of there by whatever means and cut diplomatic ties with Pakistan. The are not our ally.

I don't think anyone would disagree with that sentiment. What the military guys would tell you is that we need to be in Pakistan to keep a handle on al Qaeda and to safeguard the nukes.

Frankly, I think Pakistan is more likely to supply nukes to a terrorist than Iran is.

You could make a very good case that the US national interest is that we should destroy the Pakistani nukes now.

Southern Belle
03-03-2011, 11:48 PM
I don't think anyone would disagree with that sentiment. What the military guys would tell you is that we need to be in Pakistan to keep a handle on al Qaeda and to safeguard the nukes.

Frankly, I think Pakistan is more likely to supply nukes to a terrorist than Iran is.

You could make a very good case that the US national interest is that we should destroy the Pakistani nukes now.

Yeah, you're probably right about that.