get out of jail -- real cheap!

it's a page out of the monopoly playbook: raymond davis, CIA agent in pakistan who gunned down two ISI agents, was acquitted of charges of murder by a court today.

davis then hauled ass to london on the next flight out of dodge.

according to an LA Times dispatch on the case:

The basis for the acquittal was not known as of late Wednesday afternoon Pakistani time. It is also not known if the case was resolved through an Islamic tradition embraced by Pakistani law that allows the heirs of a murder victim to accept financial compensation, known as diyat, in exchange for forgiving the killer. 

hey, this was a major irritant to relations between two "allies" in the war on terror -- who in many respects are on opposite side of the conflict. we in the US are propagandized to see the "taliban" as the enemy, while the pakistanis are known to use the talib as tools in fending off india in afghanistan.


so we're on the same side, only we're not. we stand shoulder to shoulder, except when shooting the other guy in the back.


and that's the way the war on terror goes!


whatever greased the skids that got davis out of pakistan, you know there was a substantial quid pro quo -- after all, what would YOU ask for in exchange for risking popular backlash and turning a blind eye to the CIA's treachery? 


this is the same flavor of "diplomacy" that drives the witch hunt against leakers like bradley manning and julian assange. we caught just a glimpse -- the tip of the iceberg -- of the sleazy machinations of the US government, as it spreads freedom and democracy at gunpoint.


UPDATE: it's reported that the US government paid the families of davis' victims $1.4 million in blood money to buy his freedom. for the rest of us who are sickened by this tawdry spectacle, why doesn't our government do penance and release bradley manning?