VETERANS TODAY EXCLUSIVE: RAYMOND DAVIS RELEASE – IMRAN KHAN & IJAZUL HAQ INTERVIEWS – THE INSIDE STORY (video)

Veterans Today

March 16, 2011 posted by Gordon Duff

“FAMILY KIDNAPPED, FORCED TO SIGN ‘PARDON LETTER’” – PAKISTAN IN SHOCK

“PAKISTAN’S GOVERNMENT HAS SOLD OUT THE PRIDE OF THE NATION” Imran Khan

“ABUSE OF ISLAMIC (SHARIA) LAW BY UNITED STATES TO RELEASE A KILLER” Ijazul Haq

BREAKING! VIOLENT DEMONSTRATIONS IN FRONT OF US CONSULATE IN LAHORE. DAVIS FLOWN BY HELICOPTER TO PRIVATE PLANE, THEN TO BAGRAM FOR DEBRIEFING.

By Gordon Duff STAFF WRITER/Senior Editor and Raja Mujtaba, Bureau Chief Veterans Today Islamabad

CIA contractor Raymond Davis was released by Punjab officials after a reported deal was negotiated with the families of the two men he was accused of murdering. Davis was scheduled to be indicted for murder charges today. Security forces picked up the families last night.

In direct contradiction to news stories, the payment of “Blood Money” under Sharia law is an admission of guilt and, by western standards represents a conviction.

Former Minister of Religion for Pakistan, Ijazul Haq, called the decision by the United States “inconsistent with America’s rejection of Sharia law and an open admission that claims of “diplomatic privilege” were knowingly false. Pakistan’s foreign minister, Shah Mehmood Querishi resigned his post on February 16 in protest, based on American demands that he falsify Raymond Davis’ visa status from “business” to “diplomatic.”

Despite the late hour, spontaneous demonstrations have materialized around Pakistan. The US Consulate in Lahore is the scene tonight of violent clashes between police and anti-American demonstrators. More demonstrations are planned for tomorrow as political parties vie for credibility in light of the public outrage at Davis’ release.

VETERANS TODAY EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS WITH IMRAN KHAN AND IJAZUL HAQ

YouTube - Veterans Today -


YouTube - Veterans Today -

A payment estimated a $2 million was made to secure the release. The families are still in police custody. Davis is now at an undisclosed location, rumored to be Bagram Air Force Base in Kabul.

Imran Khan, Pakistan’s “rock star” political leader and philanthropist expressed deep concerns. “This is a gift for Islamic radicals and will incite, not only waves of hatred toward the United States but an upsurge in terrorism as well.”

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THE REAL STORY

Press stories are largely inaccurate and incomplete. This is what actually happened according to high ranking sources in the Punjab police and government officials who wish to remain anonymous.

Tonight, Afzal, the uncle of Shumaila, the widow of one of the slain men who had committed suicide, went on Pakistani television. He told the audience, moments ago:

Family members were told they were being taken to the police station to make statements. Instead, they were taken to a secret location and held in isolation and told that unless they signed a letter pardoning Davis, “you will never see daylight.”

Ijazul Haq, Pakistan’s former Minister of Religion and son of former Prime Minister Zia al Haq reports, in a VT exclusive, that members of the family and others involved, were given US citizenship to protect them from reprisals.

BACKGROUND

Senator John Kerry flew to Pakistan on February 16, 2011. He met with Punjab’s ruling duo, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and his brother Nawaz Sharif, heads of the PML, Pakistan Muslim League. Kerry announced that the release would

FOREIGN MINISTER QUERISHI RESIGNED FEB 16 OVER RAYMOND DAVIS "DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY" DEMAND

occur in a few days, although families refused to meet with him.

Shah Mahmood Qureshi, the former Foreign Minister resigned in protest but refused to grant diplomatic immunity to a criminal and a terrorist Raymond Davis. Today in press conference Qureshi said with pride that he stands vindicated for his decision.

Rana Sanaullah the Punjab Law Minister played the lead role. Sources in Pakistan indicate that government and police officials in Punjab received millions in CIA payoffs in the deal.

Both PML leaders, the brothers Shahbaz and Nawaz Sharif, left Pakistan for London earlier this week, making sure they were out of the country after brokering the deal.

Mercenaries to Fill Void Left By U.S. Army
As American troops leave Iraq, private security contractors will take over many of their tasks.

Khalid Mohammed / AP

A private security company’s armored vehicle rolls through al-Nisoor Square in Baghdad earlier this year.

As the U.S. military continues to draw down its forces in Iraq later this month and complete a full exit by the end of next year, analysts say the withdrawal will be a boon for the private security industry, whose employees will likely undertake more quasi-military functions such as defusing explosives and providing armed response teams. “They [private security contractors] are going to have to do everything that we expect soldiers to do without going out on patrols to engage the enemy,” says one former industry insider. “There are some pretty smart number crunchers in all the major contractors who are figuring out how much of this increasing pie we’re going to be able to get.”

What exactly that pie will consist of remains to be seen. During the first four years of the war—the most recent available estimate—the U.S. spent as much as $10 billion on private security contractors, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Yet this occurred at a time when the military employed far fewer than the roughly 11,000 private security contractors that it employs today. Just how many will remain in Iraq when the U.S. leaves will depend on the conditions on the ground. Yet analysts say the number of mercenaries will likely remain stable and could even increase slightly. And, as these contractors expand into new roles, “the price of them goes up,” says Stephanie Sanok, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies...

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Marine Reportedly Killed By Opium-Fueled Private Contractors

Pentagon originally said Marine killed in combat

The Pentagon confirmed late Tuesday that it is investigating the death of a 24-year-old Indiana Marine after he was shot to death in Afghanistan, allegedly by several US-paid private security contractors.

The contractors, according to a fellow Marine in Afghanistan who communicated with an investigative reporter in Chicago, were Afghanis who were found with "copious amounts of opium" and had been paid by the United States as guards.

"He was killed by American Hired Local National Contractors that were high on opium the morning of the 19th," the ABC reporter quotes a friend and fellow colleague of Lance Corporal Joshua Birchfield as saying in an email message.

Lance Corporal Joshua Birchfield was killed after being shot in the head Feb. 19. The Department of Defense originally reported that he died of "small arms fire" while in combat...