Lindsey Graham Calls Raymond Davis an “Agent”

/in /by

AFP has a report (notably picked up by Pakistan’s Dawn) on the Senate’s hand-wringing over whether we should tie aid to Pakistan to the release of Raymond Davis, the “consulate employee” who shot two alleged Pakistani spies. Here’s what Lindsey Graham had to say:

But Senator Lindsey Graham, the top Republican on Leahy’s subcommittee, strongly warned against any rollback of assistance to Pakistan, citing the need for help in the war in Afghanistan and the hunt for suspected terrorists.

“Our relationship’s got to be bigger than this,” Graham said.

“This is a friction point, this is a troubling matter, it doesn’t play well in Afghanistan. We can’t throw this agent over, I don’t know all the details, but we cannot define the relationship based on one incident because it is too important at a time when we’re making progress in Afghanistan,” he said. [my emphasis]

Lindsey, Lindsey, Lindsey! Under Ben Cardin’s proposed law criminalizing leaks (and, frankly, under existing law), you could go to jail for such honesty. Good thing you have immunity as a member of Congress.

Though in the spirit of Bob Novak–who claimed to be thinking of a political professional running congressional campaigns in Dick Cheney’s state when he called Valerie Plame an “operative”–I suppose Graham could claim he just thought Davis serves some kind of service employee at the consulate, one of the “agents” that help with visas or some such nonsense.

Not that that’ll help the tensions over this incident in Pakistan at all.

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  2. PeasantParty says:

    Just Damn! Are we going to have a read another syrupy letter in code about roots and Aspen trees, and all sorts of goodness from evil?

    Sheesh!

    You can’t imagine how happy this makes me. Not because of the shame or the parts played by the US, but because LindseyFGrahamclosetCracker really messed up this time!

  3. klynn says:

    …one of the “agents” that help with visas or some such nonsense.

    You HAD to go and help Lindsey out and play spin doctor. /s

    What did you drink this AM?

    • emptywheel says:

      Like I said, Graham would be protected by the Speech and Debate clause, so he won’t really have to make up excuses.

      Besides, we all know that laws prohibiting leaking are just for the little people.

  4. MadDog says:

    I’m sure that Lindsey meant that Davis was a Hollywood agent and probably represented Mel Gibson, Angelina Jolie or Bob Hope (He’s dead! So?).

  5. fatster says:

    O/T for your “Whoodathunkit” file

    Ex-aide [Wilkerson]: Colin Powell was ‘manipulated’ by Cheney into justifying Iraq war

    LINK.

    • emptywheel says:

      Saw this last night live.

      The most interesting thing Wilkerson said–bc I believe it is new news–is that there was a WINPAC person reporting directly to Cheney. That was evident from all the reports, but I’m curious in learning more about what he now knows.

      • fatster says:

        Thanks for the update. I don’t have a tee vee, so no see. Surely that “detail” will emerge, too–if you don’t tease it out first, that is.

    • marksb says:

      From the linked article

      “One of my team said, ‘Why is Powell doing this’?”

      Why indeed. Powell was plenty smart and everyone knew the facts were being fixed around the goal. Why did Powell roll over for Cheney? Something happened, some kind of leverage was used. That’s what I want to know.

      • JohnJ says:

        Something happened, some kind of leverage was used. That’s what I want to know.

        After watching Barney Frank rollover on a few issues at the last minute, it’s obvious that something like The Big Dick’s personal TIA network has been used for a while. How many “progressives” have rolled at the last minute since?

        I suspect it wasn’t up and running yet when they resorted the the Anthrax attack to pass legislation. Kinda’ like using a club until the knives were sharpened. (Now that I think of it, didn’t the unPatriot Act which the Anthrax attack got passed allow them to get the knives?)

      • aldous says:

        Powell was always a good soldier, doing what his bossed decreed, lavishing praise on Latin American dictators, whitewashing the Mi Lai massacre. He knew what he was doing. This is just revisionism to try to make him look a little better.

  6. scribe says:

    Just to keep things clear, or to muddy the waters further. You call the employees of your intelligence service, i.e., government employees, “officers”. You call the people who are outside the formal employment of your intelligence service, but nonetheless helping your intelligence service, “agents”. Valerie Plame was an officer, not an agent. Contractors, such as the boys from Blackwater or H&W or wherever are a relatively new category, and are usually called “Contractors” or “consultants” or something similar.

    Of course, Huckleberry Graham is such a fricking idiot that he probably can’t keep the categories straight, assuming he was aware of the difference at all.

    But it seems nonetheless clear that this shooter was collecting a US paycheck, regardless of how many screens it was filtered through.

  7. Jeff Kaye says:

    Is Lindsey some kind of double agent?

    He’s also the guy who got Ali Soufan under oath to admit FBI interrogations of Abu Zubaydah were not “Geneva compliant.” Course, no one did a damn thing about it, nor was it even a story in the press.

  8. KrisAinCA says:

    I’ve been saying since day 1 that this guy was a spook.

    Now, the real question is, what was he doing there? Why Lahore?

    This slip of the tongue may just be enough to get Davis killed. From what I understand, the Pakistanis don’t take kindly to spies.

  10. Frank33 says:

    The “Raymond Davis” story will be TFD, Targeted For Disappearance. Lindsey has certainly helped with the censorship. There are many other TFD stories about Pakistan, such as Mumbai. The ISI was linking Davis and Mumbai. The Mumbai uneducated, teenage attackers were trained by the ISI, after being purchased from the parents. Perhaps “Davis” was looking for more ISI Suicide Bomber Training Camps.

  12. fatster says:

    And here’s more on the HBGary scandal. Creepy.

    “In the continuing saga of data security firm HBGary, a new caveat has come to light: not only did they plot to help destroy secrets outlet WikiLeaks and discredit progressive bloggers, they also crafted detailed proposals for software that manages online “personas,” allowing a single human to assume the identities of as many fake people as they’d like.”

    LINK.

  13. madma says:

    He had an interpreter at court. Aren’t embassy employees required to speak the language? of course he is an agent.

  15. Mary says:

    Way epu’d

    @19 – well, oddly it seems that when Davis was put on the no-exit list,

    http://nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Politics/21-Feb-2011/Davis-CIAs-acting-chief-in-Pakistan

    his middle and last name were flipped

    and all the relevant authorities in the country should be cautioned and directed that Raymondís fake identity was Raymond Allen Davis and not Raymond Davis Allen as erroneously notified by the government authorities in the Exit Control List

    Not much help for him with his notoriety now, but could have been a simple thing for the others involved in crushing the Pakistani man to death.

    They are now reporting that he was now-gone CIA Station Chief Banks’ deputy/acting.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/8337315/US-official-held-in-Pakistan-is-CIA.html

    http://nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Politics/21-Feb-2011/Davis-CIAs-acting-chief-in-Pakistan

    And Obama has started bombing again.

    Russian services are having fun dipping their oar in the water to see what kind of waves they can make

    http://www.sify.com/news/cia-spy-davis-was-giving-nuclear-bomb-material-to-al-qaeda-says-report-news-international-lcumEfbecfi.html

    claiming that he had “top secret” CIA documents on him when he was taken; that he was a member of Task Force 373’s black ops, and that his cell was being tracked.

    Everyone has an agenda and a story – almost none of which are completely believable and almost all of which have tidbits that ring possibly true.

  16. Mary says:

    Also, ex ISI Chief Hameed Gul is being VERY vocal and outspoken (bordering on looking for a fight) re: Davis

    http://www.sify.com/news/pak-won-t-face-any-negative-outcome-if-it-doesn-t-free-davis-despite-us-pressure-gul-news-international-lcprkkfgajb.html

    Pakistan will not have to face any kind of negative consequences in case it refuses to release double murder-accused American official Raymond Davis despite growing US pressure, former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief General Hameed Gul has said

    …

    Gul also said that as if drone attacks were not sufficient, now “Raymond Davis attacks” were also being carried out.

    “How many people are involved in these attacks, nobody can say at this stage. But I have no doubt that there are people who are out to portray Pakistan as a failed state, not capable of keeping nuclear arsenals. This is the image of Pakistan they want to portray. It’s a monumental conspiracy against the state and people of Pakistan,” added the former ISI chief.

    http://www.dailypioneer.com/316812/Dont-free-Davis-warns-ex-spy-chief.html

    Former army officers will “take action” against the government if Pakistan releases US official Raymond Davis who shot dead two Pakistanis, ex-spy chief Hamid Gul has warned.