Yesterday the Guardian reported that Raymond Davis, the American held in Pakistan on charges of killing two men last month in Lahore, was working for the CIA. The Davis case has received sustained coverage in the U.S. media and is the subject of intense U.S lobbying. All the while U.S. officials referred to Davis as a “diplomat.”
Today the New York Times has posted a story on its website catching up with the Guardian. The most notable revelation, though, comes when the Times admits that it knew Davis’ status–but obeyed a government request to keep it quiet:
The New York Times had agreed to temporarily withhold information about Mr. Davis’ ties to the agency at the request of the Obama administration, which argued that disclosure of his specific job would put his life at risk. Several foreign news organizations have disclosed some aspects of Mr. Davis’ work with the CIA, and on Monday, American officials lifted their request to withhold publication.
So is the lesson here that if you’re interested in what your government is doing, read a foreign newspaper?
UPDATE: Michael Calderone at Yahoo! News notes that several U.S. outlets– the Post, the New York Times and the Associated Press— knew about Davis’ status. The Guardian was asked by U.S. officials to keep Davis’ status under wraps, but decided not to:
Ian Katz, deputy editor of The Guardian, told The Cutline that “similar representations were made to the Guardian to those received by U.S. media.” But unlike its U.S. counterparts, The Guardian went ahead with the story.
Katz noted that two senior Pakistan government sources officially confirmed that Davis was a CIA operative and explained in an email why it was relevant to report.
“We believe Davis’srole in Pakistanis unavoidably connected with both the legal case surrounding him and with the U.S. government’s attempts to seek his release,” Katz said. “And since Davis is already widely assumed in Pakistan to have links to U.S. intelligence, we did not accept that disclosing his CIA role would expose him to increased risk.”
Actually it’s worse. Not only did the Times withhold information in its possession, but it printed statements (“he’s a diplomat”) which it KNEW to be false.
And, I should add, as with, for example, the bombing of Cambodia, the attempt was only to fool the AMERICAN public. The people in the country in question were well aware of the truth, with or without being told it by the Times.
I love this ‘explanation’ of the CIA’s role: “Since the United States is not at war in Pakistan, the American military is largely restricted from operating in the country. So the Central Intelligence Agency has taken on an expanded role, operating armed drones inside the country and running covert operations, sometimes without the knowledge of the Pakistanis.” So if the US is at war with a country, it bombs and shoots people there, but if it is not at war, it bombs and shoots people?
Best reporting on the story here:
http://www.thiscantbehappening.net/node/473
So everyone who didn’t know from the beginning that he was CIA, raise your invisible hand??
Just as I suspected. I saw no hands. We know they use contractors to do most of their work so it was no surprise that he was a contractor who worked for Xe (Blackwater). Don’t know if he was working for them or some other contractor at the time of his killings.
I think we all know here that if we want to know what is really happening we need to watch/read the foreign press. Anyone who still thinks the New York Times is a “liberal” newspaper must watch Fox news.
What exactly is the point here?That if it is somehow found out that an American prisoner of a foreign power is found out to be an American intelligence operative by our press ,that they should help said foreign power to prove their allegations ,and hopefully imprison or execute this man who is working to gain intelligence for our government?Hmmmm this is a tough one.Sorry i was just looking at an old poster that says “Loose lips sink ships”.Hey is that an imposition of freedom of speech?Think people..think!
It was reported yesterday that two other CIA operatives, the ones who ran over and killed a Pakistani during the shooting, were quietly removed from Pakistan, so they get away with murder? I watch Al Jazeera, BBC America, Democracy Now, and the progressive programs on evening MSNBC. I get most of my news online.
I guess after reading the guardian’s reasoning for printing the only reason I can imagine for not printing would be to stop Americans from looking behind the wizard’s curtain. However, it is common knowledge that the CIA has trafficked drugs, assassinated people, and exists to operate covertly. Your average American know this stuff happens all the time and there have never been massive protests aimed at limiting the power of the CIA.
So what’s the big deal? I don’t really care about specific spies and the horrors of their last mission because the gov’t will just try to do something secretive tomorrow anyway whether they got caught today or not. Given what happened a couple years ago with that lady being exposed as a spy for no good reason it seems best to not report on CIA agents at all. Unless they are not following orders. Instead report on the people who gave the orders and why. Isn’t the real story why we assassinated someone?
I guess I am wondering if FAIR is suggesting that if a reporter EVER finds out that someone is a CIA agent then it should be reported? Even if they are in the field and unknown to our enemies? What does that accomplish other than destroying some poor schmuck’s career and possibly getting them killed? And what does it matter if the public finds out this week or next week? people will forget about it in a couple days anyway.
Yes, genierae, they got away with murder. But they only ran over a couple of filthy Pakis, so are these brave men supposed to suffer for that? You think those primitives over there understand how morally upright and pure and true we (and those two patriots) are here in this Great Land Called Ameriker (G. W. Bush’s line)? When your wages are driven down even more, when your union is busted by reactionary goons and rich, sociopathic assholes, when your children’s schools are told to get by on even less, when what little health care you have or just got is snatched away by the above-mentioned sociopaths and Republican monsters (for your own good), just remember that our CIA and their plucky, brave mercenaries are protecting you by night as by day, so that you will be free to suffer here. Enjoy!
That’s not what FAIR is saying, Carter. Re-read the story, and go to Salon and read Glenn Greenwald’s story on it.