''Blood Money'' for a Renegade Merc, "In Our Names!"

''Blood money'' frees CIA contractor in Pakistan

Raymond Davis pardoned by families of two slain Pakistanis in exchange for compensation

Mar 16, 2011 - Police fired tear gas against protesters burning tires outside a U.S. consulate in Pakistan after the release of CIA contractor Raymond Allen Davis who killed two Pakistani men.

The clashes Wednesday in Lahore involved around 200 people. There were small protests in other main cities as well. Police made several arrests in Lahore and struck other people with batons, according to witnesses.

A CIA contractor who shot and killed two Pakistani men was freed from prison on Wednesday after the United States paid $2.34 million in "blood money" to the victims' families, Pakistani officials said, defusing a dispute that had strained ties between Washington and Islamabad.

In what appeared to be carefully choreographed end to the diplomatic crisis, the U.S. Embassy said the Justice Department had opened an investigation into the killings on Jan. 27 by Raymond Allen Davis. It thanked the families for "their generosity" in pardoning Davis, but did not mention any money changing hands.

Davis left the country immediately on a U.S. flight, Pakistani and American officials said. {continued}