Prayers for Raymond Davis

He’s not in a uniform, but Raymond A. Davis, former Special Forces soldier, and current CIA operator and prisoner in Pakistan is a soldier for American interests.  Our own government has admitted that he “was part of a covert, C.I.A.-led team collecting intelligence and conducting surveillance on militant groups deep inside the country.”  When he was attacked as part of a robbery, he fired on the robbers, killing both.

The New York Times also reports that this may not have been a straight forward robbery.  The implication is that Davis blatantly committed a crime.  My suspicion, if it wasn’t a garden-variety robbery, is that Davis was attacked as part of his line of work.

When help finally came Davis’ way, the driver of the rescue vehicle managed to run over another Pakistani.  Davis, who theoretically has diplomatic immunity, found himself arrested, thrown into a Pakistani prison, and made a cause celebre to the radicals and credulous street in Pakistan.

The Pakistani government, which has known all along about his CIA affiliation, is now hamstrung by the radicals on the street.  They want Davis dead, and Pakistan is afraid of those radicals.  However, given that Davis has diplomatic immunity, killing him is a problem.

Davis, of course, is in an even worse situation than the Pakistani government.  He’s in a Pakistani prison, and has to hope that the government, to make its own life easier, doesn’t simply turn its back and allow a lynch mob in.

In a spy movie, the Americans and Pakistanis would arrange for Davis to be snuck out of the country, with no one the wiser.  This isn’t a spy movie, though, and I don’t think there’s enough competence between the two countries right now to arrange for a “no one the wiser” scenario.  It seems, right now, as if Davis’ best hope is prayer — which he certainly deserves for repeatedly putting himself on the line in the service of this country.