In a further blow to US-Saudi ties, reports emerged this weekend on the
October murder of Jamal Khashoggi by a Saudi kill team. The kill team’s
leader, Maher Mutreb, and other members, had apparently been trained by the US government in the past.
It’s a familiar story, heard often enough when the US aligns itself with
a country with a flimsy human rights record. The trainees were part of
ongoing routine training operations meant to increase the ties of rank
and file Saudi figures with the US security state.
During his training Mutreb, a colonel in the Saudi apy agency,
apparently went so far as to try to befriend Khashoggi, likely gathering
more intelligence on him, but likely also making his murder all the
more uncomfortable.
While the Trump Administration has time and again shrugged off
Khashoggi’s murder as not worth risks to US-Saudi ties, and business
relationships, Congress doesn’t feel that way at all. This new
revelation is almost certain to add to Congressional calls to further
stem ties with the Saudi government, specifically so US training and
equipment aren’t involved in routine atrocities such as this.
Several of Khashoggi’s Killers Were Trained in US
Leader of kill team, others participated in 'ongoing' training program
Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.
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