'Blood Money' Deal Frees CIA Contractor Raymond Davis From Pakistan

By NICK SCHIFRIN, MATTHEW COLE, HABIBULLAH KHAN and LEE FERRAN

Raymond Davis, a CIA contractor held in Pakistan after a deadly shooting incident in January, was freed today and is on his way home, U.S. and Pakistani officials said.

Davis was released from detention after $2.4 million was paid to the families of the two men allegedly shot and killed by Davis, according to court documents.

In her first public statements since his arrest in January, Davis' wife Rebecca said her husband was "not a killer" but had been highly trained and she believed he was defending himself when the shooting occurred.

"I knew that he did what he had to do because he had to do it. It was kill or be killed," Rebecca Davis told CBS News' Denver affiliate CBS4. Davis' military record includes experience with the U.S. Special Forces and he was formerly employed by the private security firm Blackwater.

Officials told ABC News the families of the victims appeared in a Lahore court today to say that they have pardoned Davis. A U.S. official said it was a "Pakistani decision" to release him and he is no longer in the country.

Payment of money to the families of victims in crimes for securing acquittals for the accused has significant legal precedent in Pakistan, a custom loosely translated as paying "blood money."

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters the U.S. did not pay any compensation directly to the victims' families, but a senior White House official told ABC News the U.S. government expects to "receive a bill for money paid to the families" and the administration plans on paying that bill.

"The families of the victims of the January 27 incident in Lahore have pardoned Raymond Davis," U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter said in a statement. "I am grateful for their generosity. I wish to express, once again, my regret for the incident and my sorrow at the suffering it caused."

Davis has been in Pakistani detention since the Jan. 27 incident in which he allegedly shot and killed two men on the streets of Lahore, Pakistan, who he said were attempting to rob him. Since his arrest, U.S. officials including President Barack Obama have repeatedly called for Davis' release, arguing he carried a diplomatic passport and was under the protection of diplomatic immunity.

Davis was identified only as a member of the "technical and administrative" staff of the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad when he was arrested. It was revealed last month he was under contract from the CIA and had worked for Blackwater.

Munter said the U.S. Department of Justice has opened an investigation into the shooting.

U.S. Did Not Deny Possibility of 'Blood Money' Negotiations

When asked about the possibility of paying blood money for Davis' release, former U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said in February that officials were working "at every level of the government" to secure Davis' freedom and did not deny discussions about compensation had already taken place. One senior U.S. official told ABC News then that in such situations, payment is certainly a strategic consideration.

Last month family members of the victims told ABC News they would not accept money from the U.S. for Davis' release.

"Even if the U.S. gives us $10 million or $20 million, can my son come back?" the father of one of the victims said then. "This will be selling my son's blood which will be like deceiving the people and government... If we accept money, this will give them a way and they will keep killing people and paying money and thereby Pakistan will be sold and will be finished."

Under a pair of Pakistani statutes known as Qisas and Diyat, those accused of a crime, even major ones, may be set free without trial if they can produce acceptable compensation to the victim or the victim's family, said Pakistani law expert Paula Newberg of the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service.

But, Newberg said, those laws are about compensation, not justice.

"In the current instance, it may be a way of removing Mr. Davis from the country," she said. "[But] as a mode of solving this kind of problem, it has the potential to set a very fuzzy precedent that does not meet the standards for justice in Pakistan or in the U.S."

ABC News' Jake Tapper and Clayton Sandell contributed to this report.

Pakistan Tried to Trade CIA Contractor for 'Lady al Qaeda'

By MATTHEW COLE

The government of Pakistan offered to trade a CIA contractor currently jailed in that country for a Pakistani neuroscientist suspected by U.S. intelligence to be an al Qaeda operative.

According to a senior American administration official and a Pakistani official involved in the negotiations to free CIA contractor Raymond Davis, the Pakistani government proposed trading Davis for Aafia Siddiqui, an MIT-educated Pakistani neuroscientist currently serving 86 years in federal prison for attempted murder.

The offer was immediately dismissed by the U.S. government. "The Pakistanis have raised it," the U.S. official said. "We are not going to pursue it."

The proposal is the latest in a series of efforts to break an impasse between Washington and Islamabad over Davis. The CIA contractor has been held by Pakistani authorities since late January for shooting and killing two men he says were following his car and tried to rob him.

Siddiqui was convicted of trying to shoot F.B.I. agents and military officers in an Afghanistan police station in 2008. Siddiqui had been arrested the day before after being found with a list of New York city landmarks and instructions on how to construct explosives.

In 2004, F.B.I. director Robert Mueller described Siddiqui as an "al Qaeda operative and facilitator." The F.B.I. had issued a global alert for Siddiqui and her first husband in 2003, for their suspected ties to al Qaeda. Siddiqui later remarried to an al Qaeda operative, who was the nephew of the 9/11 mastermind, Khalid Sheikh Muhammed. The husband, Ammar al-Baluchi is currently being detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Siddiqui was never charged with any terrorism-related crimes, however. Shortly after the FBI alert, she and her children disappeared, only to surface in Afghanistan five years later. Siddiqui has claimed she was held in secret American prisons, including Bagram airbase in Afghanistan, during that time. American officials have consistently denied that she was ever in American custody.

Official: Raymond Davis Trade Offer Not Considered by White House

According to the Pakistani official, the Pakistan's government proposal called for Siddiqui to be transferred to Pakistan, where she would serve the remainder of her sentence in a Pakistani jail or under house arrest.

Siddiqui's case became a cause celebre in Pakistan last year when Pakistan's prime minister called for Siddiqui's exoneration and release.

Popular Pakistani sentiment held that Siddiqui, who also had a Ph.D. from Brandeis University, had been persecuted by the U.S. because she was an educated Islamist woman, someone who spurned the West despite her background.

According to the senior administration official and a Pakistani official, the U.S. government quickly made it clear to Pakistan that they would not entertain the possibility of trading Siddiqui for Davis.

The American official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record about the negotiation, said the offer was not being considered by the Obama White House.

The Pakistani official directly involved in the negotiations agreed, saying their Siddiqui proposal was a "non-starter" for the U.S. government.

Since the impasse began in the days after the January 27th shooting in Lahore, that ultimately led to the deaths of three Pakistani citizens, both sides have alternated between hard and soft approaches to end the diplomatic stand off.

U.S. and Pakistani officials told ABC News that early on, the White House threatened to close the three U.S. consulates and expel the Pakistani ambassador to the U.S. if Davis wasn't released. Pakistan's ambassador, Husain Haqqani, has denied that the White House made those threats.

The Associated Press reported last week that the Pakistani intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI, has stopped speaking with the CIA over the Davis case and its perception that the Americans have been heavy-handed in their efforts to get Davis released. Citing a senior ISI official, the report described the relationship between the ISI and CIA as at the lowest point since 9/11. The U.S.-Pakistani relationship is considered crucial to ending the war in Afghanistan.

Pakistani Officials: It's a 'Matter of Time' Before Davis Is Released

On Friday, Davis refused to sign a charge sheet during a pre-trial hearing, telling the court he has been advised that he has diplomatic immunity.

But there is still hope for a resolution despite the apparent impasse. Pakistani officials in both Lahore and Islamabad have told ABC News that Davis' release is a "matter of time," and that the Pakistani government is waiting for the public furor over the case to wane before releasing the American.

One Pakistani official said that one likely outcome would be that the U.S. government would pay reparations to the victims' families, who under Pakistan law can pardon Davis if asked.

U.S. Fears for Life of Outed CIA Contractor in Pakistan Prison

By MATTHEW COLE

U.S. officials believe that Raymond A. Davis, the CIA contractor in Pakistani custody for shooting two men, is in serious danger - even from the guards at the prison where he is now being held.

Davis was working for the CIA as an independent contractor in Lahore when the shooting incident occurred on Jan. 27, according to two senior U.S. intelligence officials. He has been at the center of a tug-of-war between U.S. and Pakistani officials ever since.

The Pakistani government is under significant public pressure to prosecute Davis. The incident has set off massive anti-American protests and calls for Davis to be executed for the murders.

"Our first fear is that the sentiment of the street in Pakistan is, 'Let's take him and hang him,'" said a current senior U.S. official.

According to the official, administration officials fear that the Pakistani government lacks sufficient control over Pakistani municipal police, who have Davis in custody.

A second U.S. official told ABC News that even Pakistani officials are concerned for Davis' safety in the Lahore prison where he now awaits his next court date on Feb. 25. According to the official, the jail holds 4,000 inmates, many of whom are militants, and as many as three prisoners have been "murdered by guards." Davis is currently being held in a separate part of the jail for his safety, and his guards have had their guns taken away. His food is being tasted first by dogs to make sure it isn't poisoned.

According to a current senior U.S. official and a senior intelligence consultant who worked with Davis, the 36-year-old American is a former Blackwater contractor who was posted to Lahore as part of the CIA's Global Response Staff, or GRS, a unit of security and bodyguards assigned to war zones and troubled countries such as Afghanistan and Pakistan. Members of the GRS most often accompany CIA case officers, who meet with clandestine sources.

Davis and a group of fellow security officers lived in a safehouse in Lahore. The CIA keeps safehouses for security personnel in an effort to limit the ability for militants to track their movements, the intelligence contractor said.

ABC News was asked by the U.S. government to withhold publication of Davis's affiliation with the CIA, citing fears that disclosure would jeopardize his safety. After several foreign media organizations published parts of his background, the U.S. government rescinded its request to ABC News to embargo the information.

On Jan. 27, Davis left the safehouse and conducted an "area familiarization route," according to the senior U.S. official. He drove through various Lahore neighborhoods for several hours. It was during his route, two U.S. officials say, that Davis stopped at an A.T.M. and possibly drew the attention of two Pakistani men on a motorcycle.

Davis has told the police in Lahore that the two men were attempting to rob him when he fired several rounds from his Glock handgun, hitting them both. The police report says that Davis claimed one of the men had a gun cocked at him. Davis fired multiple rounds from inside his car, killing one man in the street, while the second died later from his injuries.

Davis then called for help from several other CIA security officers who shared his Lahore safehouse, according to a U.S. official and the intelligence consultant. As they arrived near the intersection, they accidentally hit a Pakistani motorcyclist. The motorcyclist later died of his injuries. Davis' colleagues were unable to get to Davis before the police arrested him. They left the scene and returned to their safehouse.

Within hours, they had destroyed all government documents at the safehouse, abandoned it, and retreated to the U.S. consulate for safety. Both have since returned to the U.S., according to a senior U.S. official briefed on the case.

U.S. officials have been in a standoff with the Pakistani government over Davis's detention since his arrest. Pakistani officials have denied that his diplomatic passport protects him from the country's judicial system. They say the legal system will soon determine if he should stand trial for murder or other crimes, or release him.

The U.S. asserts that Davis has diplomatic immunity and is protected under the Vienna Convention, which recognizes diplomatic immunity.

Last week President Obama called Davis "our diplomat" and urged the Pakistani government to release the CIA operative.

"We've got a very simple principle here that every country in the world that is party to the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations has upheld in the past and should uphold in the future, and that is, if our diplomats are in another country, then they are not subject to that country's local prosecution," Obama said in a press conference last week.

"We expect Pakistan, that's a signatory and recognizes Mr. Davis as a diplomat, to abide by the same convention."

Since Davis was detained, the Obama administration has summoned the Pakistani ambassador to the White House to demand Davis's release, while Secretary of State Clinton and the U.S. ambassador to Pakistani and asked senior Pakistani military, intelligence and other government officials to respect Davis's diplomatic immunity. But the U.S. has refused to elaborate publicly on Davis' position in Pakistan except to say he was a "technical advisor" for the consulate in Lahore and to refer to him as a "diplomat" in public statements.

"We are playing a game of chicken," said a senior Pakistani official, who would only speak if given anonymity. "It is not yet clear who will blink first."

According to a senior U.S. official, Davis first arrived in Pakistan in December 2008, and was posted at various times in Islamabad, Lahore and Peshawar. Until last August, Davis was stationed in Pakistan as an employee of the company once known as Blackwater, now called Xe Services, and contracted to the CIA.

According to a former Blackwater executive, the CIA terminated the company's GRS contract in Pakistan, accusing the security company of failing to provide adequate services. The agency then moved to hire all the former Xe/Blackwater security personnel directly as independent contractors.

As a GRS officer, Davis made $780 per day working as a security guard for the agency's clandestine case officers. One official described his job as always being "a few tables away" from a case officer meeting with a clandestine source, and providing security escorts around the country. By 2010, he'd been moved to Peshawar.

In recent years the Pakistani media has asserted that Blackwater was responsible for numerous terrorist attacks in the restive western areas of the country -- attacks attributed by the Pakistani and American governments to the Taliban, al Qaeda and other militant Islamic groups.

According to the intelligence consultant, Blackwater personnel have worked for the CIA in Pakistan since at least 2004, most as security guards, but some as paramilitary operatives working to target militants in the country's tribal regions.

The Pakistani men Davis shot on Jan. 27 were carrying pistols and stolen cell phones, according to the Lahore police. Pakistani government officials have told ABC News that the two were working for that country's intelligence agency, Inter-Service Intelligence, and were also conducting surveillance. But the police report records interviews with two witnesses who say that they had been robbed earlier by the two men Davis shot, and American officials deny that the two men worked for the ISI.

"We have no information to suggest Davis was being followed by the ISI," one current U.S. official said.

Lee Ferran and Nick Schifrin contributed to his report.

Raymond Davis Is CIA Contractor, U.S. Officials Say

By MATTHEW COLE

Raymond A. Davis, the U.S. official at the heart of a tense stand-off with the Pakistan government, was working for the CIA as an independent contractor when he shot and killed two Pakistani men, according to two senior U.S. intelligence officials. U.S. officials believe Davis's affiliation with the CIA places his life at risk, even from the guards in the prison where he is now being held.

In the fullest account yet of how an American official came to be held for the deadly shooting in Pakistan, three current officials have told ABC News who Davis was working for and what he was doing on Jan. 27 when the incident occurred.

According to a current senior U.S. official and a senior intelligence consultant who worked with Davis, the 36-year-old American is a former Blackwater contractor who was posted to Lahore as part of the CIA's Global Response Staff, or GRS, a unit of security and bodyguards assigned to war zones and troubled countries such as Afghanistan and Pakistan. Members of the GRS most often accompany CIA case officers, who meet with clandestine sources.

Davis and a group of fellow security officers lived in a safehouse in Lahore. The CIA keeps safehouses for security personnel in an effort to limit the ability for militants to track their movements, the intelligence contractor said.

ABC News was asked by the U.S. government to withhold publication of Davis's affiliation with the CIA, citing fears that disclosure would jeopardize his safety. After several foreign media organizations published parts of his background, the U.S. government rescinded its request to ABC News to embargo the information.

On Jan. 27, Davis left the safehouse and conducted an "area familiarization route," according to the senior U.S. official. He drove through various Lahore neighborhoods for several hours. It was during his route, two U.S. officials say, that Davis stopped at an A.T.M. and possibly drew the attention of two Pakistani men on a motorcycle.

Davis has told the police in Lahore that the two men were attempting to rob him when he fired several rounds from his Glock handgun, hitting them both. The police report says that Davis claimed one of the men had a gun cocked at him. Davis fired multiple rounds from inside his car, killing one man in the street, while the second died later from his injuries.

Davis then called for help from several other CIA security officers who shared his Lahore safehouse, according to a U.S. official and the intelligence consultant. As they arrived near the intersection, they accidentally hit a Pakistani motorcyclist. The motorcyclist later died of his injuries. Davis' colleagues were unable to get to Davis before the police arrested him. They left the scene and returned to their safehouse.

Within hours, they had destroyed all government documents at the safehouse, abandoned it, and retreated to the U.S. consulate for safety. Both have since returned to the U.S., according to a senior U.S. official briefed on the case.

Davis has been held ever since by the local police. Pakistani authorities have said Davis is now in the legal system, which will soon determine if he should stand trial for murder, different crimes, or release him.

The Pakistani government is under significant public pressure to prosecute Davis. The incident has set off massive anti-American protests and calls for Davis to be executed for the murders.

"Our first fear is that the sentiment of the street in Pakistan is, 'Let's take him and hang him,'" said a current senior U.S. official.

According to the official, administration officials fear that the Pakistani government lacks sufficient control over Pakistani municipal police, who have Davis in custody.

A second U.S. official told ABC News that even Pakistani officials are concerned for Davis's safety in the Lahore prison where he now awaits his next court date. According to the official, the jail holds 4,000 inmates, many of whom are militants, and as many as three prisoners have been "murdered by guards." Davis is currently being held in a separate part of the jail for his safety, and his guards have had their guns taken away. His food is being tasted first by dogs to make sure it isn't poisoned.

U.S. officials have been in a standoff with the Pakistani government over Davis's detention since his arrest. The U.S. asserts that Davis has diplomatic immunity and is protected under the Vienna Convention, which recognizes diplomatic immunity. Pakistani officials have denied that his diplomatic passport protects him from the country's judicial system.

Last week President Obama called Davis "our diplomat" and urged the Pakistani government to release the CIA operative.

"We've got a very simple principle here that every country in the world that is party to the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations has upheld in the past and should uphold in the future, and that is, if our diplomats are in another country, then they are not subject to that country's local prosecution," Obama said in a press conference last week.

"We expect Pakistan, that's a signatory and recognizes Mr. Davis as a diplomat, to abide by the same convention."

Since Davis was detained, the Obama administration has summoned the Pakistani ambassador to the White House to demand Davis's release, while Secretary of State Clinton and the U.S. ambassador to Pakistani and asked senior Pakistani military, intelligence and other government officials to respect Davis's diplomatic immunity. But the U.S. has refused to elaborate publicly on Davis' position in Pakistan except to say he was a "technical advisor" for the consulate in Lahore and to refer to him as a "diplomat" in public statements.

"We are playing a game of chicken," said a senior Pakistani official, who would only speak if given anonymity. "It is not yet clear who will blink first."

According to a senior U.S. official, Davis first arrived in Pakistan in December 2008, and was posted at various times in Islamabad, Lahore and Peshawar. Until last August, Davis was stationed in Pakistan as an employee of the company once known as Blackwater, now called Xe Services, and contracted to the CIA.

According to a former Blackwater executive, the CIA terminated the company's GRS contract in Pakistan, accusing the security company of failing to provide adequate services. The agency then moved to hire all the former Xe/Blackwater security personnel directly as independent contractors.

As a GRS officer, Davis made $780 per day working as a security guard for the agency's clandestine case officers. One official described his job as always being "a few tables away" from a case officer meeting with a clandestine source, and providing security escorts around the country. By 2010, he'd been moved to Peshawar.

In recent years the Pakistani media has asserted that Blackwater was responsible for numerous terrorist attacks in the restive western areas of the country -- attacks attributed by the Pakistani and American governments to the Taliban, al Qaeda and other militant Islamic groups.

According to the intelligence consultant, Blackwater personnel have worked for the CIA in Pakistan since at least 2004, most as security guards, but some as paramilitary operatives working to target militants in the country's tribal regions.

The Pakistani men Davis shot on Jan. 27 were carrying pistols and stolen cell phones, according to the Lahore police. Pakistani government officials have told ABC News that the two were working for that country's intelligence agency, Inter-Service Intelligence, and were also conducting surveillance. But the police report records interviews with two witnesses who say that they had been robbed earlier by the two men Davis shot, and American officials deny that the two men worked for the ISI.

"We have no information to suggest Davis was being followed by the ISI," one current U.S. official said.

ABC News' Lee Ferran and Nick Schifrin contributed to his report.

Second American Involved in Lahore Shooting Slips Back to U.S.

By MATTHEW COLE and LEE FERRAN

A Pakistani court has demanded the arrest of a second U.S. official in connection with a deadly shootout in Lahore, Pakistan, last month, but that official, as well another American official involved in the incident, have already slipped out of the country and are back on American soil, a senior U.S. official told ABC News.

The American sought for arrest, who the State Department only identified as a member of the U.S. embassy's staff in Islamabad, Pakistan, was behind the wheel when he struck and killed a bystander while racing to the aid of U.S. "technical advisor" Raymond Davis, who is currently detained in Lahore. Davis is accused of gunning down two Pakistani men in the street on Jan. 27 in what the State Department said was self-defense during a "botched robbery."

The driver of the vehicle held the same diplomatic visa as Davis, U.S. officials told ABC News. Since his arrest, the U.S. argued that Davis should be afforded diplomatic immunity as a member of the embassy's "technical and administrative staff" and released.

Authorities in Punjab said they sent five letters to the U.S. Embassy asking that the driver and vehicle be handed over, but have reportedly received no response. It is unclear when the driver and his passenger were spirited out of Pakistan, but a senior U.S. official said it happened soon after the shooting incident.

Davis is still in a high-security detention center in Lahore and is expected to stay there until a court hearing next month, despite repeated demands by the U.S. -- including from President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton -- that he be released immediately. In a court hearing Thursday, a representative of the Pakistani central government said Pakistani officials are still trying to determine whether Davis qualifies for diplomatic immunity.

Victim's Brother Demands Execution for Raymond Davis

Moments after the court issued its ruling Thursday to hold Davis, the brother of one of the shooting victims addressed the media demanding Davis' execution.

"Our demand from the first day is that we want him hanged, nothing other than this," the man said.

The wife of the same man who was shot committed suicide earlier this month, but not before telling local media she wanted Davis' "blood."

After the hearing, Cameron Munter, the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, said he was "disappointed" the Pakistani central government did not certify Davis as a diplomat and release him under diplomatic immunity.

Ever since his arrest, mystery has surrounded the man President Barack Obama called "our diplomat."

In the days after the shooting, the U.S. State Department denied that the man in Pakistani custody was Raymond Davis, despite Pakistani officials, court documents and one source close to Davis saying otherwise. Eventually Davis was revealed to be a member of the embassy's "technical and administrative staff," but the State Department has refused to answer questions about his specific job in Pakistan. When Davis was arrested, he reportedly possessed a loaded gun, GPS equipment, pictures of what Pakistani police called "sensitive areas" of Pakistan, as well as a diplomatic passport.

Public records show Davis has experience with the U.S. Special Forces and runs a small security company that provides "loss prevention specialists," according to the company website which is no longer active.

Complicating matters, several Pakistani officials told ABC News that the men Davis allegedly shot were not small time criminals, but agents of the country's premier intelligence service, the ISI, who had been tracking Davis -- a claim the U.S. government vehemently denies.

Kerry: U.S. Will Open Criminal Investigation Into Shooting

Earlier Wednesday, Sen. John Kerry, chair of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, left Pakistan without Davis after a short trip meant to help smooth over relations between Pakistan and the U.S.

"President Obama and Secretary Clinton have personally asked me to convey to the people of Pakistan our deepest sorrow for the loss of life that occurred there in that tragic incident," Kerry said before leaving the country. "And there is nothing that the United States wants more than to see those kinds of incidents disappear forever in the lives of Pakistanis and in our relationship. I was encouraged today in the meetings that I had in all levels of your government."

Upon landing in the country, Kerry told local media the U.S. Department of Justice would open a criminal investigation into the shooting should Raymond Davis be released.

"I think during the course of Senator Kerry's stay there, we made clear that with such incidents it is practice of the United States government to conduct its own criminal investigation," Crowley told reporters Wednesday. "And we intend to follow that practice here."

ABC News' Luis Martinez contributed to this report.

Obama Advisor Delivered Presidential Threat To Pakistan Over Detained American

By Matthew Cole and Nick Schiffrin

Pakistani officials said President Obama's national security advisor summoned Pakistan's ambassador to the White House Monday evening to deliver a threat from the president: Release Raymond Davis, an American being held in Lahore for killing two Pakistanis, or face the consequences.

National Security Advisor Tom Donilon told Ambassador Husain Haqqani, according to two Pakistani officials involved in negotiations about Davis, that the U.S. will kick Haqqani out of the U.S., close U.S. consulates in Pakistan, and cancel an upcoming visit by Pakistan's president to Washington, if Davis, a U.S. embassy employee, is not released from custody by Friday.

The outlines of the threat were confirmed to ABC News by a senior U.S. official, who was not authorized to speak on the record. A White House spokesperson, Tommy Vietor, declined comment.

Ambassador Haqqani denied, via Twitter, that any "US official, incl the NSA, has conveyed any personal threats 2 me or spoken of extreme measures."

Davis, 36, is expected in court early Friday morning in Lahore to face charges of shooting two men on motorcycle on Jan. 25. Davis says he killed the men because they had been following his car and were trying to rob him. Video emerged Thursday of Davis showing his State Department credentials to Pakistani police officers and saying, "I'm a consultant."

Davis is in Pakistan on a diplomatic passport, and the U.S. has demanded his immediate release on the grounds of diplomatic immunity. The stand-off between Washington and Islamabad has brought the already tense relationship between two uneasy allies to a new low.

Raymond Davis Is 'Technical Advisor' To Consulate

The U.S. has refused to elaborate publicly on Davis' position in Pakistan except to say he is a "technical advisor" for the consulate in Lahore. But U.S. officials believe Davis's life is in danger the longer he spends time in a Lahore jail cell, the target of anti-American resentment from Pakistani citizens, some of whom have called for Davis to be executed.

"Our first fear is that the sentiment of the street in Pakistan is, 'Let's take him and hang him,'" said a current senior U.S. official.

According to the official, administration officials fear that the Pakistani government lacks control over Lahore municipal police, who have Davis in custody.

Pakistani government officials have claimed that Davis was being followed by men hired by Pakistan's intelligence agency because they suspected Davis was spying. American officials have said that Davis shot the two men in self defense, after they blocked his car with their motorcycle and brandished weapons.

In a video that aired in Pakistan yesterday, Davis could be seen and heard inside the Lahore police station moments after being taken into custody.

"I need to tell the embassy where I'm at," Davis says to several police officers who are seen inspecting the identification cards around his neck. "I work as a consultant there."

In a statement to ABC News, Ambassador Haqqani denied that the U.S. and Pakistan were "negotiating through threats."

"Both sides are trying to work out a way forward," said Haqqani. "Our countries are sufficiently close to handle an irritant in our relationship."

The Face That Launched Egypt's Revolution

By Brian Ross and Matthew Cole

For many Egyptians, this week's attacks on demonstrators, journalists and human rights lawyers come as no surprise. Egypt is notorious for its brutal police and intelligence services.

In fact, the fate of one victim who died at the hands of Egypt's police has served as a rallying call for the Egyptians who took to the streets demanding change.

Last June, 28-year-old Khaled Said of Alexandria posted a video online that seemed to show police officers and drug dealers working together.

"Now it's time for a vacation," one of them says in the video.

The police were outraged when the video was posted, and Said paid the price.

As reported on one of Egypt's most widely watched news programs, Said was dragged out of an internet cafe by two policemen and beaten, in front of witnesses including a store owner and young children.

The owner of the internet cafe described to reporters how the men had beaten Said to death in a doorway across the street, smashing his head against stairs, a wall and an iron door.

A young boy, who said he saw the incident, told reporters, "They kept hitting him and he objected and asked, 'Why am I getting beat?"

"They kill people though they haven't done anything," another girl who was interviewed said, referring to the Egyptian police.

After taking him away, the officers returned minutes later and dumped Said's lifeless body in front of the internet café. The police later claimed Said had suffocated to death when he tried to swallow a bag of hashish.

Photos of Said's contorted face, showing a fractured skull, broken nose and dislocated jaw, went viral on the internet.

'We Are All Khaled Said'

Outrage over the June 6 incident sparked the creation of a huge Facebook group called We Are All Khaled Said, with more than 40,000 on-line supporters. It was that web site which first called for Egyptians to gather in protest on a day of anger on January 25 -- a date chosen because it is officially celebrated as "National Police Day" in Egypt.

When protestors gathered in the streets on January 25 in Alexandria, Said's photo was carried aloft in posters and banners. Egyptians across the country have not stopped protesting since.

Sarah Leah Whitson, director of the Middle East and North Africa division of Human Rights Watch, believes Said's death might have been "the final straw" for Egyptians.

"You know it's hard to explain why one thing ends up being the tipping point, why one case really sort of touches the hearts of millions as Khaled Said's case did in Alexandria," said Whitson. "But the fact that there were video images really galvanized the sense in Egypt among Egyptians that they had had enough."

Said's family told ABC News it was too dangerous for them to speak out now because of police stationed near their home, but his mother has posted on-line videos to protest the long delay in prosecuting the two police officers charged with her son's murder. Social media and on-line videos have played a huge role in publicizing alleged police abuses in Egypt in recent years.

"Egypt is well known internationally as one of the countries who has perfected the art of torture," said Adel Iskander, an Egyptian-Canadian media scholar and a lecturer at Georgetown University. Videos of Said and other victims of brutality , said Iskander, have "shown both the police brutality and to some extent the judicial complicity behind this system of torture that's going on in Egypt."

In perhaps the most infamous case prior to Khaled Said, Cairo bus driver Imad Kabir was sodomized by police, who taped it all, and then sent the video to his coworkers as a warning.

Kabir's crime? He said he was trying to break up a fight between his brother and a police officer. Thanks to the video, and to Kabir's testimony in open court, the police officers were prosecuted and convicted for sodomizing Kabir, and sentenced to three years of hard labor.

Kabir's abuse was publicized online by blogger Wael Abbas, who since 2005 has been well-known in Egypt for collecting videos of alleged police abuse and posting them on his YouTube channel and his blog, misrdigital.com. Other videos among the many posted by Abbas appear to show beatings by police, a man with a bare, bloody back begging for mercy in a police station, and a female murder suspect hanging upside down and moaning. Abbas told ABC News earlier this week that during the protests he has been concerned for his safety and worried about reprisals.

"The number of videos that have been posted on line over the past few years that really scandalize this issue of police brutality is remarkable," said Iskander. "And the reaction has been absolute outrage. Human rights organizations have called on Egypt to restrain its police force and its torture of citizens. In fact, some argue that this very revolution may have begun precisely to try to prevent police brutality.

Omar Suleiman: Torturer-in-Chief?

For many, Egypt's torturer–in-chief is the country's new vice-president Omar Suleiman. Until last week, the 74-year-old Suleiman, a veteran of the Mubarak regime, was the head of the country's intelligence service, the Mukhabarat.

Said Whitson, "What we know about Omar Suleiman is that he has a long history of involvement, of course, in the intelligence agency of the country, and a long record of involvement in torture and abuse of detainees."

Suleiman is also closely tied to the U.S., considered a great help in the interrogation of terror suspects sent to Egypt by the CIA under a so-called "rendition" program that began in the 1990s.

"It was a symbiotic relationship," explained Emile Nakhleh, a former top Middle East analyst for the CIA. "We benefitted from it, they benefitted from it. But all along our senior policy makers kept telling them that they need to institute real reform very quietly but consistently and they never listened."

Some of the secret US cables made public by Wikileaks show American officials were fully aware of the problem.

"Omar Suleiman and the interior minister keep the domestic beasts at bay and Mubarak is not one to lose sleep over their tactics," wrote one American diplomat in Cairo 2009.

"I would say his hands are deep on the torture system," said Whitson, "beyond fingerprints."

For Egyptians, the hands of Suleiman and Mubarakhave left permanent scars. The scars will be forever visible in online videos, whether of a bus driver who didn't show the desired respect to the police, or a young man who sought to expose police corruption, but would not live to see the power of what he started.

Pakistan Extends Detention of Accused American Official

By LEE FERRAN, KIRIT RADIA and MATTHEW COLE

The American official accused in the shooting deaths of two Pakistani men will be detained for an extended period of up to eight days, despite renewed calls from the U.S. that he be immediately released under the provisions of diplomatic immunity.

Raymond Davis, as the American has been identified by Pakistani investigators, court documents and a source close to Davis, appeared in a Pakistani court this morning but was not afforded a lawyer or translator, a spokesman from the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, said.

A week after the incident, U.S. officials have yet to name Davis as the official in custody, referring to him only as a diplomat and member of the embassy's administrative and technical staff. Pakistani officials described Davis as a "technical adviser" and his military record shows experience with the U.S. Special Forces.

"The U.S. Embassy reiterated to the Government of Pakistan today that his continued detention is a gross violation of international law," the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, said in a statement today. "Under the Vienna Convention and Pakistani domestic law, he is entitled to full criminal immunity and cannot be lawfully arrested or detained."

The statement said that in the court appearance today Davis was "denied due process and a fair hearing." Pakistani officials had said they would rule on whether he is granted diplomatic immunity this week, but have extended the decision while police investigate the shooting for up to eight days, officials told ABC News.

Davis, who runs a small private security consulting business, allegedly shot and killed two men who he said were attempting to rob him last week in Lahore, Pakistan. A third Pakistani man died after he was struck by a vehicle that was reportedly racing to Davis' aid. The U.S. State Department called the shooting self defense.

"We deeply regret that the January 27 events in Lahore resulted in the loss of life following an attack on the diplomat by armed assailants," the statement from the U.S. embassy said. "However, the Government of Pakistan must comply with its obligations under international and Pakistani law and ensure that he has immunity from criminal jurisdiction. "

Relatives of Dead Demand Terrorism Charges for Davis

The decision to extend Davis' detention comes a day after the relatives of the men who were shot demanded in a press conference that terrorism charges be brought against Davis.

Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik echoed the position of several high level Pakistani officials when he told reporters Tuesday that the case against the American would go before a Pakistani court.

Lahore's High Court asked the Pakistani government Tuesday to place Davis on the "exit control list," which would bar him from leaving the country, an official told ABC News.

According to public documents, Davis currently owns Hyperion Protective Consultants, LLC, which provides clients with "loss and risk management professionals" and sells safety and surveillance equipment.

In addition to not identifying the American official, the State Department has declined to say precisely in what capacity he was working for the government -- beyond as a diplomat -- or why he was apparently armed at the time of the incident.

Pakistan Refuses to Release U.S. Official Accused in Shooting

By Lee Ferran, Matthew Cole and Kirit Radia

Pakistani officials said today they are refusing to release the American official, identified by the U.S. only as "a diplomat," involved in a deadly shooting in Lahore, Pakistan, despite U.S. demands.

Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik echoed the position of several high level Pakistani officials when he told reporters Tuesday that the case against the American -- identified by Pakistani officials, court documents and a source close to the man in custody as Raymond Davis -- would go before a Pakistani court.

Lahore's High Court asked the Pakistani government today to place Davis on the "exit control list," which would bar him from leaving the country, an official told ABC News.

Without identifying Davis, the U.S. embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, issued a call for the release of "a U.S. diplomat unlawfully detained" over the weekend, stating he was working for the U.S. government in Islamabad in a diplomatic capacity and was carrying a diplomatic passport when he fought off two would-be robbers last week.

"On January 27, the diplomat acted in self-defense when confronted by two armed men on motorcycles," the embassy said in the statement. "The diplomat had every reason to believe that the armed men meant him bodily harm... When detained, the U.S. diplomat identified himself to police as a diplomat and repeatedly requested immunity under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations."

A source close to Davis said he works as a "technical adviser." His military record shows experience in the U.S. Special Forces and, according to public documents, he currently owns Hyperion Protective Consultants, LLC, which provides clients with "loss and risk management professionals."

The two men were killed in the shooting as well as another man who was reportedly struck by a vehicle that was racing to Davis' aid. In addition to not identifying the American official, the State Department has declined to say precisely in what capacity he was working for the government -- beyond as a diplomat -- or why he was apparently armed at the time of the incident.

U.S. Embassy: Working to Secure 'Immediate Release of the Diplomat'

A trial will determine whether the killing was intentional, accidental or in self-defense, Pakistani officials said last week.

"We regret that this incident resulted in loss of life. We greatly value the cooperation and partnership between Pakistan and the United States, which is vital to the interests of both countries," the U.S. Embassy said this weekend. "The U.S. Embassy is committed to working closely with the Pakistani government to secure the immediate release of the diplomat, as required under Pakistani and international law."

The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment on this report.

American Official Involved in Pakistan Shooting Identified

By MATTHEW COLE, KIRIT RADIA and LEE FERRAN

Though the U.S. State Department and Pakistani officials are at odds over the identity of a U.S. consular employee accused of killing two Pakistani men, private security officer Raymond Davis was involved in the incident, sources told ABC News today.

Davis, a "technical adviser" to the U.S. government whose record shows experience in the U.S. Special Forces, is accused of shooting two men who were apparently attempting to rob him Thursday in Lahore. A third Pakistani man was killed when a vehicle struck him while reportedly racing to the American's aid.

Pakistani officials named Davis as the accused American to ABC News, in reports and in court documents Thursday, but State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said the name had been misreported.

A source close to Davis told ABC News today he was involved in the incident.

Court documents filed in Lahore list Davis as charged with murder. A trial will determine whether the killing was intentional, accidental or in self-defense.

After denying the man's name is Raymond Davis, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley would not say who accused government employee is, in what capacity he worked for the embassy or why he was apparently carrying a firearm.

"I can confirm that an employee at the U.S. consulate in Lahore was involved in an incident today," Crowley said Thursday. "It is under investigation. We have not released the identity of our employee at this point."

Davis runs Hyperion Protective Consultants, LLC, a company that provides "loss and risk management professionals."

Since it is not known in what capacity Davis was working for the government, it is not clear whether he is entitled to diplomatic immunity.

The State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment on this report.

Iranian Defector Detained and Tortured?

By MATTHEW COLE

Shahram Amiri, the Iranian nuclear scientist who returned to Tehran in July after what he called a "kidnapping" by the CIA, has been held in detention by Iranian authorities for two months and tortured so badly he was hospitalized, according to a dissident Iranian web site.

An article on Iranbriefing.net claims that an unnamed family source says Amiri was held in a safe house after his much-publicized return to the country. He was allowed to have supervised visits with family members before being moved to a prison in Tehran in October for interrogation.

Amiri, a professor at Tehran's Malek Ashtar University, defected to the U.S. in 2009 after funneling Iranian nuclear secrets for the CIA for several years while still inside the Iranian nuclear program, American officials told ABC News.

Amiri was a key source for the 2007 National Intelligence Estimate that concluded the Iranian nuclear weaponization program had been halted after 2003, according to a former senior U.S. intelligence official. The CIA began pushing Amiri to flee after publication of the NIE, said the official, because the agency feared the Iranian government would discover Amiri's role in providing the information. Amiri disappeared while on pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia in June 2009, and then resurfaced in the U.S., first at an apartment in Tucson, Arizona and then at an apartment in Springfield, Virginia.

But after more than a year in the U.S., Amiri claimed he had never really defected. In a series of videos released on the internet in early 2010, he insisted he had been kidnapped, drugged and tortured by the CIA. He claimed he was trying to elude U.S. agents so he could be reunited with his wife and son in Iran.

Amiri Returns To Iran

In July, Amiri showed up in Washington, D.C. at the Iranian interest section of the Pakistani embassy. Before boarding a flight back to Iran, Amiri told Iranian television he had finally escaped from the hands of U.S. intelligence, something U.S. officials said at the time he had to say to avoid being imprisoned or executed on his return to Tehran.

The article that appeared on Iranbriefing.net, a site operated by the Iran Briefing Foundation, which describes itself as a non-profit, U.S.-based human rights group, is the first purported update on Amiri's status since his return to Iran. It says he is being held in solitary confinement, and that he spent a week in a hospital because of the effects of physical and psychological torture.

At the time Amiri went back to Iran, former CIA officer Bob Baer told ABC News that it was common for defectors to have second thoughts. Baer also predicted that the Iranians would keep Amiri alive and perhaps allow him several years as "a public hero" if they wanted to sustain what Baer called "the pretense that he was kidnapped."

"After that," said Baer, "I can't tell you."

Wikileaks Mutiny

A report for World News Tonight about Julian Assange and a mutiny inside Wikileaks. From 12.14.2010

Gaunt, Scared American Hostage Appears In New Taliban Video

By MATTHEW COLE

Looking gaunt and scared and with a cut on his face, Bowe Bergdahl appears in a newly released Taliban video, a sign that the captive Army soldier is still alive, but that his nearly 18-month ordeal has taken a toll.

The 44-minute video, which was widely distributed on the web, shows a clean-shaven Bergdahl standing with the senior Taliban commander responsible for his capture near the Pakistani border in June 2009. Bergdahl is on-screen for about 15 seconds just over halfway through the video. Some of the footage of Bergdahl is recycled fromer earlier videos.

Mullah Sangin, a top commander in the al Qaeda-connected Haqqani group, is believed to have orchestrated the kidnapping of Bergdahl, and facilitated his movement from Afghanistan to the tribal areas of Western Pakistan, where Bergdahl is believed to be held.

Bergdahl has appeared in a total of four Taliban videos since his capture, the first released in July 2009. Soon after Bergdahl's capture, Sangin threatened to kill him if the U.S. did not pull out of Afghanistan, but he had not previously appeared in a video with his captive.

Through a spokesman, Bergdahl's family has confirmed his identity via screen grabs of the video. A Pentagon spokesman said that it was unknown whether the footage was current, and that the Pentagon "deplore[s] the fact that the Taliban is using him in that way in releasing footage."

"But we continue our efforts to try and recover Specialist Bergdahl," said the spokesman.

Bergdahl, 24, of Boise, Idaho, is the only U.S. serviceman captured since the war in Afghanistan began in 2001.

A private first class at the time of his capture, he was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, based at Fort Richardson, Alaska before deploying to Afghanistan. He was promoted to Specialist while in captivity.

Bergdahl was lured from his post in eastern Afghanistan by several Afghan National Army soldiers on June 30th, 2009, and then taken by Taliban fighters in a nearby village, according to a senior Pentagon official.

Bergdahl was quickly moved to Pakistan, where he has been shuttled around several locations, primarily in North Waziristan, the Pentagon official said.

Reward Offered For Bergdahl

In the immediate days after Bergdahl's capture, U.S. forces began distributing a leaflet in eastern Afghanistan that warned, "If you do not release the U.S. soldier, then you will be hunted." A picture of an American soldier kicking in the door of an Afghan home covers the leaflet.

The U.S. military also had a succession of efforts to locate the missing soldier and free him. Initially, a reward of $25,000 for location tips was offered to Afghans in the eastern portions of the region from which he disappeared. According to a source involved in the effort, a large number of calls flooded, and overwhelmed U.S. military efforts.

Shortly after Bergdahl was taken prisoner, his captors filmed him making a brief statement and drinking tea and released the tape on the internet. They released a second video on Christmas 2009.

In a video released in April, Bergdahl was bearded and dressed in military issue clothing. He held up a newspaper, but the date of the paper's publication was not visible.

Bergdahl also performed push-ups to demonstrate his physical condition and said he was being treated well, despite being a prisoner.

But Bergdahl began to lose his composure as he talked to the camera.

"Release me please, I'm begging you," he said.

"I love my family. I haven't shown it very well because I've been pretty lost in my life and I don't think I've given my family the love that they've given me."

"Let me go," pleaded Bergdahl.

Additional reporting by Luis Martinez.

Al Qaeda's Sarcastic New American Mouthpiece

By MATTHEW COLE

If the latest issue of Al Qaeda's online magazine Inspire reads like it was written and edited by a twentysomething American, that's because it was.

U.S.-born radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki may rely on sermons to recruit jihadis, but his Yemen-based understudy, 24-year-old New York-raised Samir Khan, uses sarcasm and idiomatic English. As Khan himself has said, "It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that I [am] Al Qaeda to the core."

Khan solidified his extremist credentials earlier this month when he published a "special edition" of the English-language "Inspire," which revealed details of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's failed cargo bomb plot and mocked the stepped-up security that has ensued in the West.

Khan's skills as a propagandist have grabbed the attention of U.S. intelligence and law enforcement, who say he is a rising star in Al Qaeda.

"He does appear to be increasingly involved with operational activities [of Al Qaeda]", a U.S. official told ABC News. One counterterrorism official told ABC News that U.S. intelligence analysts view Khan as an "aspiring" Awlaki, the radical Yemeni-American cleric at the top of the U.S. government's "kill list" because of his operational involvement in AQAP.

Of greatest concern, say government officials and others who have tracked his evolution from a U.S. blogger and jihadi wannabe to an online voice of jihad, is his ability to speak to Western audiences in a vernacular that connects with Americans.

In the first issue of Inspire, which Khan released in July 2010, he titled an article on assembling homemade explosives, "How to make a bomb in the kitchen of your mom."

"He's a model of what Americans can do in the propaganda sphere," said Oren Segal, a researcher at the Anti-Defamation League, who has followed Khan's online rhetoric since 2004.

"He's what's next. His message resonates and appeals to Western audiences."

Samir Khan Born In Saudi Arabia, Raised in New York

Khan was born in Saudi Arabia and raised from the age of seven in Queens, New York. He was a normal city teenager who listened to hip hop and wore baggy clothing.

Even before his family relocated to Charlotte, North Carolina in 2004, however, Khan had begun to take an interest in Islam. He ditched his baggy pants for jalabiyas, the long white robes traditionally favored by Saudis. He joined two Islamic groups, but neither espoused violence.

But with the move south, Khan took a turn towards radicalism. In 2004, after watching online videos of suicide bombers blowing themselves up at American military checkpoints in Iraq, Khan began to openly support Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda and to express that support on-line.

In 2007, shortly after Osama bin Laden released a communiqué, the New York Times reported that Khan, who had launched a blog called "A Martyr, God Willing" in Arabic, praised the al Qaeda leader, and beseeching Americans to "take his message with great seriousness."

In one of his only interviews, Khan told the New York Times that his favorite online video showed a suicide bomber striking a US base in Iraq. ? "It was something that brought great happiness to me," Khan said.

Khan spent years in his parents Charlotte basement blogging, posting al Qaeda messages, and becoming increasingly radicalized by the war in Iraq. His blog's popularity rose as his rhetoric became more extreme.

In 2009, he started a precursor to Inspire called Jihad Recollections, saying, "We have decided to take it upon ourselves to produce the first jihadi magazine in English." In the third issue, amidst calls for jihad and attacks against non-Muslims, Khan devoted space to a gushing review of a product dear to the hearts of American jihadis and infidels alike, Apple's iPhone 3. According to Khan, iPhone was "quickly becoming a standard as opposed to just another phone. With over 35,000 applications available, it becomes a joke when we hear about the so-called 'iPhone killers'."

Samir Khan Moves to Yemen

According to Segal of the ADL, Khan left the U.S. for Yemen in October 2009, which is around the time the fourth and final issue of Jihad Recollections appeared. In Yemen, he launched Inspire, and since his arrival in Yemen, say U.S. authorities, his on-line efforts have been in conjunction with AQAP. Inspire's second edition, which was published before the October printer bomb attempt and included Khan's claim to be "Al Qaeda to the core," featured a photo of the Chicago skyline, which U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials think was a tip-off of the terror group's intention to address the bombs to Jewish targets in Chicago.

There has been skepticism about Inspire's authenticity and Khan's connection to some Al Qaeda figures in Yemen, but several organizations outside the U.S. government that monitor extremist web sites and statements have concluded that Khan and Inspire are in fact working with Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

Ben Venzke, who runs IntelCenter, one of the groups that monitors extremist sites, quickly concluded that Khan's magazine was real. He pointed to the most recent issue of Inspire, which took gloating credit for the cargo bomb plot.

"We have never seen a jihadist group in the Al Qaeda orbit ever release, let alone only a few weeks after, such a detailed accounting of the philosophy, operational details, intent and next steps following a major attack," said Venzke.

"This may represent a new level of interaction by jihadi groups following an operation and is a far cry from the days of shadowy claims and questions as to who was actually responsible."

In the most recent issue of the magazine, Khan's used a mocking tone to respond to Western security procedures intended to prevent further bombs sent via cargo shipments.

"The British government said that if a toner weighs more than 500 grams it won't be allowed on board a plane. Who is the genius who came up with this suggestion? Do you think that we have nothing to send but printers?"

CIA Lies Led To Death Of American Mother and Baby Daughter

By Matthew Cole and Brian Ross

CIA officials caused the deaths of an American mother and child in a tragic plane shootdown above Peru, according to a blistering new report, by operating a counter-drug program outside the rules for six years and then lying about it to their superiors.

The report also says that after Roni Bowers and her daughter Charity died, the officials tried to cover up how it happened by "repeatedly" lying to Congress. Details from the report, and footage from the 2001 shootdown, are featured in this week's edition of "Brian Ross Investigates."

The CIA inspector general's report details "an environment of negligence" in which nearly two dozen officials knowingly participated in the shootdown of the Bowers plane and 14 other aircraft over the Peruvian jungle between 1996 and 2001 without following the established rules. While the program was in operation, according to the report, the officials misled their superiors and the National Security Council about the procedures being followed, and assured them that no planes were being shot down until it was certain they were drug planes.

After the Bowers shoot down in April 2001, according to the report, the officials tried to cover up their mistakes by "misrepresent[ing] the Agency's performance [in]almost a dozen Congressional briefings and hearings." The report cites numerous violations, omissions, and falsehoods, and even suggests that the CIA's general counsel interfered with a Department of Justice investigation into the shootdown. The Department of Justice said it would prosecute the officials for lying and the deaths of Roni and Charity Bowers, according to the report, if the CIA did not work out an "administrative" plan to discipline them.

On April 20, 2001, Jim and Veronica "Roni" Bowers and their two children, six-year-old son Cory and infant daughter Charity, were returning to their home in Peru from a trip to Brazil in a small airplane piloted by Kevin Donaldson.

The Bowers' worked as Christian missionaries along a stretch of the Amazon River near Iquitos, Peru, a remote jungle region near the Brazilian and Colombian borders heavily traveled by drug traffickers.

The CIA and the Peruvian Air Force were working in the same area, trying to interdict drug smugglers. Starting in 1995, they'd operated a joint program to intercept civilian aircraft suspected of smuggling drugs from South America to the U.S., shooting them down if necessary.

A CIA spotter plane saw the Cessna in which the Bowers family was flying and alerted the Peruvian Air Force, which shot them down, killing Roni and Charity. Jim Bowers, Cory and pilot Kevin Donaldson survived after their plane crash-landed .

The so-called Airbridge Denial Program (ABDP) shot down a total of 15 aircraft between 1995 and 2001, all of them except the Bowers' reportedly piloted by drug smugglers. The program had to be authorized by an executive order from President Bill Clinton in 1994 because of international laws prohibiting firing on civilian planes. Offiicials were supposed to follow a series of steps to differentiate between an innocent passenger plane and a drug plane before shooting any aircraft down, but did not follow those steps on April 20, 2001 or in 13 of the other 14 cases, according to the report.

The IG report blames the Peruvian Air Force for the misidentification of the Bowers' plane, but says the CIA should have been able to call off the shootdown if it had followed the program's official guidelines. Investigators also found evidence that CIA officials running the program ordered a Peruvian Air Force jet to strafe suspected drug smugglers who fled their aircraft after it had been shot down, which was both contrary to guidelines.

CIA Tape of Plane Shootdown

The nearly two-hour long encounter between the Bowers family and the CIA and the Peruvian Air Force on April 20, 2001 was captured in a CIA videotape.

The CIA spotter plane, with two operative aboard, sneaked up behind the Cessna as it flew over the Amazon.

"We are trying to remain covert at this point," one of the CIA pilots on the plane can be heard to say on the tape.

The CIA pilot describes the aircraft as a high-wing, single-engine float plane, which is accurate, that it has picked up on the border between Peru and Brazil.

But the CIA personnel misidentified the craft as a drug plane. The CIA alerted the Peruvian Air Force, which scrambled an interceptor. Over the next two hours, the CIA personnel would express doubts, but would not correct their error, and would repeatedly violate what the White House believed to be strict rules of engagement.

Said former counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke, who served in the White House at the time on the National Security Council, which created the anti-drug program, "Either the CIA spotter aircraft or the interceptor is supposed to get up close, identify the plane from the tail number, try to indicate to the plane that it should follow them to the ground."

That did not happen. Instead, the decision was made not to try to identify the tail number, because it might allow the plane to escape.

"You know, we can go up attempt the tail number," says a CIA operative on the tape. "The problem with that is that if he is dirty and he detects us, he makes a right turn immediately and we can't chase him."

When the Peruvian Air Force jet arrived it issued a warning to the target plane, saying, 'We will shoot you down." The warning was in Spanish, which the Bowers and their pilot could understand, but it was on the wrong frequency.

'They're Killing Us'

The CIA pilots begin to have doubts. "This guy doesn't, doesn't fit the profile," says one. But nothing was done to pull the plane back.

The CIA then asks a Peruvian Air Force liaison, "Are you sure is bandito? Are you sure?" "Yes, okay," says the Peruvian. "If you're sure," responds the CIA operative. Then more serious doubts were quietly whispered.

"That is bullshit," says one CIA operative. "I think we're making a mistake." "I agree with you," says the other operative.

A minute and a half later the gunships opened fire and the Bowers' pilot, Donaldson, screamed in Spanish for the jet to stop.

"They're killing me. They're killing us," yells Donaldson on the tape.

"Tell him to terminate," says one of the CIA operative to the Peruvian liaison. " No. Don't Shoot. No more, no mas."

The Peruvian liaison starts yelling at the pilot, "Stop! No mas, no mas, Tucan no more."

"God," says one of the CIA pilots.

By then the damage was done. Trailing black smoke, it headed for a river to land, with Roni and Charity already dead from bullet wounds and the pilot wounded in both legs.

CIA Misled Congress

Jim Bowers, his son Cory and Kevin Donaldson survived. But for almost nine years, the CIA misled Congress, the White House and the dead woman's parents about how and why the agency defied the rules established to make sure innocent people were not killed.

The CIA's internal report was completed in August 2008, seven years after the deadly incident but withheld from public disclosure. Retiring Congressman Pete Hoekstra, R.-Mich., who was ranking minority member of the House Intelligence Committee, fought for years with CIA over what he suspected was an agency cover-up.

In February, ABC News first reported that roughly 16 CIA officials were subjected to an accountability panel, which led to no dismissals or demotions.

"If there's ever an example of justice delayed, justice denied, this is it," said Rep Hoekstra, "The [intelligence] community's performance in terms of accountability has been unacceptable. These were Americans that were killed with the help of their government, the community covered it up, they delayed investigating."

A CIA spokesperson issued a statement to ABC News in February that placed the blame for the shootdown on the Peruvian Air Force, and said its own internal review had shown no evidence of a cover-up.

"The program to deny drug traffickers an "air bridge" ended in 2001 and was run by a foreign government," said the spokesperson. "CIA personnel had no authority either to direct or prohibit actions by that government. CIA officers did not shoot down any airplane. In the case of the tragic downing of [April 20th] 2001, CIA personnel protested the identification of the missionary plane as a suspect drug trafficker."

"This was a tragic episode that the Agency has dealt with in a professional and thorough manner," continued the statement. "Unfortunately, some have been willing to twist facts to imply otherwise. In so doing, they do a tremendous disservice to CIA officers, serving and retired, who have risked their lives for America's national security."

I

U.S. Feared Parcel Bomb Plot Was Coming; Saw September 'Dry Run'

By MATTHEW COLE, RICHARD ESPOSITO, MATTHEW MOSK and BRIAN ROSS

US intelligence officials feared that al Qaeda terrorists in Yemen were plotting to attack the United States and actually intercepted what they now believe were "dry run" shipments to Chicago in mid-September, according to several people briefed on the plot and a senior US official.

The senior US official told ABC News that the "dry run" involved a carton of household goods including books, religious literature, and a computer disk, but no explosives, shipped from Yemen to an address in Chicago by "someone with ties to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula."

Another person briefed on the incident said it is now believed the terrorists sent the package "so they could track how long it took and whether there would be any problems for the package getting through the system."

Senior administration officials told ABC News that, after the September shipment was discovered, U.S. intelligence agencies had specific concerns about the Yemen-based group's interest in Chicago, noting not only the destination of the September shipment, but also a photograph of the Chicago skyline in a magazine recently published by the terror group's propaganda arm.

US intelligence "intercepted the packages in transit," the senior intelligence official said, searched them, and then allowed them to continue to Chicago.

"The dry run is always important to al Qaeda," said Dick Clarke, a former White House counterterrorism official and now an ABC News consultant. "In this case they wanted to follow the packages using the tracking system to know exactly when they got to a point, how long the timer had to be set for, so the bomb would go off at the right point, which presumably was over Chicago."

The US official said the CIA feared the packages "were intended to probe the security system for air cargo but there was nothing in them that could have been used to hide a bomb."

While officials believed air cargo might be used for an attack, "no one in the US government had specific timing or date" for the real bombs, the senior US official said.

The White House said it only learned of the actual air cargo plot late Thursday night when Saudi intelligence provided "a tip" about the bombs being shipped.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the tip involved the FedEx and UPS tracking numbers which made it possible for the US to stop the shipments at transfer points in Dubai and the United Kingdom.

CLICK HERE to follow ABC News Chief Investigative Correspondent Brian Ross on Twitter.

"We were able to identify where they were emanating from by package number, where they were located," Napolitano told ABC News.

Bomb Flew On Qatar Air Passenger Flight

The senior US official said the tracking numbers were not known to the US until after the packages had left Yemen.

The timing is significant because one of the bombs, the one shipped by FedEx, was moved to Dubai on two separate Qatar Air passenger jets.

The UPS shipment was moved on an all-cargo flight through Germany and on to England where it was to have been sent to the United States.

US and British authorities say they now believe that the bombs, hidden in desktop printers, were designed to be detonated on board the aircraft carrying them.

"If one cargo plane is taken down by a bomb," said Brad Garrett, an ABC News consultant and former FBI agent, "you could literally shut down cargo transport across the world."

The White House has publicly thanked the Saudi intelligence service for its cooperation but the weeks of intelligence sharing with the Saudis that allowed the US to know in advance that parcel bombs were coming has not previously been reported.