Raymond Davis Worked for the CIA . . . So What?
Posted by Michael Cohen
So today we find out about Raymond Davis what many had suspected - that he was working for the CIA. However, even the details of his status remain highly opaque.
The New York Times is reporting that Davis "was part of a covert, CIA-led team of operatives conducting surveillance on militant groups deep inside the country;" the Wall Street Journal reports that Davis worked for the agency but "was not directly involved in spying operations." Finally Reuters is saying that Davis was a "protective officer" providing security to embassy officials and was not part of a CIA-team doing surveillance.
I'm not sure what to believe here - but to be honest it doesn't matter in regard to the issue of Davis's diplomatic immunity. If the Pakistani government accepted Davis's entry into the country with a diplomatic passport . . . then Davis has immunity. End of conversation.
That, in the nutshell, is the issue - and the focus on his occupation or agency affiliation is a distraction (and I would argue an intentional one). Even today, when I was being yelled at by various Pakistani lawyers and journalists on Voice of America, there was one area of consensus - where Davis worked is irrelevant.
Don't believe me on this: as Pakistani columnist Raza Rumi argues,"We have missed the chance to demonstrate that we are a rule-based state, compliant with international law."
But of course as we know the revelations of Davis's CIA ties will only serve to muddy the waters over his diplomatic status and give ammunition to those voices in Pakistan and elsewhere who want to use this incident as a means of making a larger political point.
Case in point, Glenn Greenwald's hyperbolic accusations today that the State Department has no credibilty "invoking lofty "rule-of-law" and diplomacy principles" because the "very same State Department that just got caught systematically violating that convention when WikiLeaks cables revealed that U.S. "diplomats" were ordered to spy on U.N. officials and officials in other countries."
The issue of diplomatic spying is a bit more complicated than Glenn would let on, but I'm surprised by the breezy dismissal of lofty rule of law claims on this issue. Is the fact that Pakistan has a legal responsibility to treat US diplomats by the letter of international law irrelevant? One would think not. Unless this is an invocation of the legal doctrine "two wrongs make a right."
And then there is this:
But what this highlights most of all is the extraordinary cost of occupying, interfering with and waging endless war in multiple countries around the world . . We relentlessly hear what a serious threat is posed to us by Terrorism, and gravely lament that Pakistan is such a hotbed for that activity and those who support it. Yet -- as the people in that country hear every day -- we're occupying, bombing, droning, and otherwise trying to control what happens there.
What happened in Lahore is part of an ongoing, continuous assault by American forces in that region. They (but not we) hear routinely about the killing of their innocent civilians by Americans in their country.
This is a complete distraction from the matter at hand. As any observer of the US drone war in Pakistan is well aware it is being carried out with the full knowledge, support and acquiesence of the Pakistani government. Indeed many of those being killed by US drones are enemies of the Pakistani government as much as they are enemies of the United States. Like this guy.
And to argue that the United States is trying to control what is happening in Pakistan would surely seem like a cruel joke indeed to US officials who have watched helplessly as Pakistan continues to support Afghan Taliban insurgents and provide sanctuary to jihadist terrorist groups. Moreover, the argument that the US is "routinely" killing Pakistani civilians is contradicted not only by recent reports that civilians casualties have dropped significantly but also work by Christine Fair, among others, that shows such casualty figures are greatly inflated by Pakistan. Finally, it needs to be stated that if the Times story is to be believed . . . the Pakistani government was well aware of Davis's CIA affiliation.
I take a back seat to no man or woman when it comes to my consistent criticism of the US government in regard to the war in Afghanistan and just earlier this year I wrote that the US needs to be more solicitous of Pakistani interests in Afghanistan.
But that notwithstanding if Davis has diplomatic immunity and was accepted by Pakistan under a diplomatic passport then he should be released immediately. On this point the United States stands on very firm legal and diplomatic ground - a point that all voices in this debate should be acknowledging.
If the Pakistani believe he was a CIA agent or engaged in covert activities than they should declare him persona non grata and kick him out of the country. But to continue holding him in a Lahore prison is a violation of basic diplomatic and legal norms. (That a Lahore provincial court determined the matter needs three weeks of investigation is a complete dodge; since the question of Davis's status is an issue to be resolved not by a provincial court only by the Pakistan Foreign Ministry. This is classic buck-passing.)
Whatever one thinks of the US war in Afghanistan or the US relationship with Pakistan the simple fact is that treaty obligations are treaty obligations and the rule of law is the rule of law; and in this case it would appear that the United States has the facts on its side. (Here is another Pakistani lawyer/writer making the same argument).
Discussions about where Davis worked, his background, the US drone war in NW Pakistan and revelations from the Wikileaks documents are certainly matters of public import and should be discussed openly. But in the context of the Davis incident, they should be seen for what they are - a purposeful dodge from the issues of this case.