Pakistanis more skeptical of U.S. presence

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Raymond Davis, the American CIA contractor jailed for fatally shooting two Pakistani men last month, has quickly assumed the role of Pakistan's public enemy No. 1.

But not far behind him are those who have come to be known as "Raymond Davises."

Davis' name has become a byword for a presumed army of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of shadowy American operatives stalking Pakistani streets. So important is his silence to protecting their mission, some Pakistani media reports suggest, that the United States might spring him from prison in an action-movie-style rescue operation, or have its agents poison him.

"The Americans want to destroy Pakistan," said Aslam Hayat, 54, a construction worker who was speaking after prayers at a mosque in Rawalpindi. "That's why people like Davis are roaming all around the country, assigned with different tasks against our country."

Such conspiracy theories have long dominated discussions here about the U.S.-Pakistan relationship, in part because they are occasionally confirmed, as one was this week when U.S. officials said Davis is a security contractor for the CIA. They had previously described him as a diplomat entitled to immunity from prosecution, a characterization they still maintain is accurate.

But officials and analysts said the speculation about multitudes of American gunslingers also reflects widespread hostility toward the U.S. presence.

The Obama administration has deployed diplomats and aid workers more widely to implement education programs, flood relief and other projects. The apparently growing belief about sinister agents could imperil those efforts or endanger those carrying them out, officials said.

Davis, 36, was working with a team of CIA contractors out of a safe house in Lahore. He has said he shot the two Pakistanis in self-defense as they tried to rob him.