Pakistan Frees US Embassy Employee after Bullets Found in Luggage
26. Feb, 2012
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Is US Foreign Policy that hard to sell that their “diplomats” need weapons to persuade or enforce it?
- Consulate car leaves a Peshawar police station carrying the US embassy employee. Photograph: Mohammmad Sajjad/AP
by Debbie Menon
The CIA has a multitude of Ray Davises on the books and in the closets, and as long as they are not caught with smoking guns in hand and dead Pakistanis at their feet, they are impervious to and immune from Law of any sort except their own.
“A US embassy employee was released after being held for questioning in Pakistan on Tuesday when airport security officials discovered bullets in his luggage. The American was about to fly from the city of Peshawar to the capital Islamabad when he was taken into police custody, Tahir Ayub, a senior police superintendent, said.”
There is a subtle question here which rises when you ponder, just what kind of “diplomacy” it is that the USA is engaging in which requires that US Diplomatic Officers, those who qualify for “Diplomatic Immunity,” to carry arms such as this man and Ray Davis did?
Is US Foreign Policy that hard to sell that their “diplomats” need weapons to persuade or enforce it?
I would think that this might be something which the American public might not know about, and perhaps ought to know about.
Things like this used to be regarded as “News.”
Pakistan would do well to take a lesson from Egypt and apply Pakistani law to lawbreakers in Pakistan and clean house.
Either that, or refuse to grant “Diplomatic Immunity” to men who carry guns. “A true Diplomat” has no need or use for a gun, by definition of the term.
They might ask themselves what would happen to a Pakistani “Diplomat” or a Pakistani hit man, if he were discovered with a pistol and ammunition in New York or Washington, DC?
It is not wise to grant legal immunity to assassins and allow them to run rampant and unimpeded in your own country. They tend to blow up things!
There is little doubt that Seal Team Six could not have done the bin Laden hit (or whomever it was who took those bullets) without the Intel and oversight of men like Ray who were on the ground, feeding information and setting the scene…. I do not necessarily mean to imply that it was they who have actually been dong it (they have to maintain deniability in the actual hands on operations… that is where Ray screwed up and had to shoot his way out of a situation which got beyond his control and went bad), but who provides the logistic, motivation and support, as well as the target lists… those who arrange, plan, pay and make things happen behind the BANG of these “suicide and car bombs” throughout Pakistan and the Middle East. .
That is the business of Ray Davis and those “diplomats” who carry guns, money and explosive materials.
Pakistan frees US Embassy employee after bullets found in luggage
A police officer gestures toward a vehicle carrying an American national who was held for questioning in Peshawar, Pakistan, on Tuesday.
American released in Peshawar after being questioned following discovery of bullets by airport security staff.
A police officer gestures toward a vehicle carrying an American national who was held for questioning in Peshawar, Pakistan, on Tuesday.
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A U.S. Embassy employee was released after being held for questioning in Pakistan on Tuesday when airport security officials discovered bullets in his luggage, police said.
The American was about to to fly from the northwestern city of Peshawar to the capital Islamabad when he was taken into custody, said Tahir Ayub, a senior police superintendent.
He was released after four hours when officials from the U.S. consulate in Peshawar produced documents to show the man worked at the consulate.
“We have been directed to release him as he had diplomatic immunity,” Ayub told NBC News.
“He’s been released to the consulate,” a U.S. official in Islamabad said. “He’s at the consulate now.”
The American is an embassy employee usually based in Islamabad but was temporarily assigned to the Peshawar consulate, the official said.
‘Diplomatic status’
Police officers had earlier said they would hold the man until his identity had been verified by the foreign office in Islamabad and a U.S. official in the capital had said the embassy was looking into the details of the reports.
“He has diplomatic status,” the official said. “We’re in contact with Pakistani authorities on the details on the case.”
Ayub said a pistol and 12 magazine rounds had been recovered from the man’s luggage.
However, police officer Dost Mohammad Khan told The Associated Press that 13 bullets were found in the man’s luggage ahead of a flight to Islamabad. It was not clear why the bullets were there.
Raymond Davis CIA Contractor held in custody for murder and later released after a “blood money” deal was made with the families of the two victims.
Raymond Davis CIA Contractor held in custody for murder and later released after a "blood money" deal was made with the families of the two victims.
The detention was likely to revive memories of Raymond Davis, an American CIA contractor who shot and killed two Pakistanis in the eastern city of Lahore in January 2011.
A third Pakistani died when he was hit by an embassy vehicle racing to extract Davis from the scene where an angry mob had gathered.
Compensation payment
After initial confusion, the U.S. embassy in Islamabad said Davis had diplomatic immunity, which Pakistan refused to recognize. Davis spent almost two months in jail before being released after the payment of compensation to the families of the two men killed.
The incident was a major blow to the relationship between the United States and Pakistan, a key ally in the war on terror.
Ties were just beginning to thaw when U.S. commandos killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in a Pakistani military town on May 2 in a secret raid which infuriated Islamabad.
The unilateral American raid that killed bin Laden led to a fresh wave of suspicion against Western diplomats by the Pakistani security establishment, which was apparently stung by the realization that the CIA agents were operating in the country without its knowledge.
NBC News’ Mushtaq Yusufzai, Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Other sources:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17024083
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/us-man-held-in-pak-over-bullets-in-baggage-released/912124/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/14/pakistan-us-embassy-employee-bullets
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About the Author
Debbie Menon
Debbie Menon: She is a freelance writer based in Dubai. Her articles have been featured in several print and online publications. She can be reached at: debbiemenon@gmail.com
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“Diplomacy?” As practiced by Amerika? Well that would be ‘it’s the law of the west, Ma’am’. You see, there isn’t really ANY diplomacy practiced by the US. There is the practice of brutish violence. Arrogant ignorance and insolent demands made of good folk that are, for the most part, unable to defend themselves against an Amerikan war machine. You see twice, Amerikan government diplomatic clowns are entranced with that bullsh*t “Amerikan Exceptionalism” in theory and practice. So in practical application, whomever is posing as US diplomat would simply be just another CIA goon about the business of international criminality.
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Yeah…. although Skulz is simply reading it back to me, he has chosen an apt metaphor, “the Law of the West.” Sixgun Law… ” he who draws the fastest, shoots first and straightest, is Judge, Jury and Executioner, and he wins the game.”
Why all the hullabaloo and Arab Spring sh*t in Syria?(It makes me mad when they underestimate our intelligence.)
An armed and unified functional government in Syria is a threatening deterrent to any militant belligerence which Israel may have toward Hesbollah or Lebanon. Therefore, Syria must be destroyed and neutralized as a player in ME militant diplomacy.This is in accord with Israeli strategic plans of balkanization of all neighboring Arab States in the Middle east and Africa.
Bear this in mind when writing anything about Syria.
It is more than Libya was, and closer than Egypt.
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DEBBIE: SO WHAT ELSE IS NEW? ITS WELL KNOWN AMERICANS CANNOT BE TRUSTED ANY MORE AND SOON THEIR MONEY WILL RUN OUT AND THEY WILL HAVE TO SERVE SENTENCES LIKE EVERY OTHER NATIONALITY. IT IS INDEED UNFORTUNATE THEY NOW HAVE A BRITISH BUSINESSMAN, CHRISTOPHER TAPPIN IN THEIR CUSTODY. AT 65 YEARS OLD HE WAS CUFFED AND SHACKLED ON ARRIVAL ON US SOIL. THE REST OF THE WORLD LOATHES THIS ADMINISTRATION THAT LOCKS UP PEOPLE BEFORE ANY TRIAL. NOTHING IS THEREFORE SURPRISING ANY MORE. REGARDS.
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ITS A COUNTRY RUN BY COWBOY LAWS AND NOTHING HAS CHANGED. ITS A COUNTRY WHICH MERITS BEING OUTLAWED BY THE REST OF THE WORLD AND WHICH IS HAND IN GLOVE WITH THE OTHER TERRORIST STATE – ISRAEL. BUT WE SHOULD TAKE HEART BECAUSE OTHER COUNTRIES ARE BEGINNING TO WAKE UP AND TAKE NOTE. IT WILL ONE DAY GET ITS COMEUPPANCE. ITS JUST A QUESTION OF TIME.
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Since 1947,Pakistan was ruled by the military people except few years when so-called democracy was there.
These people have destroyed their country and leading towards a never ending tribal and religious conflicts with the help of no.
one terrorist country USA.
Now,they should be brave enough to make a u-turn.
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