With Saudi Arabia working on the exact language of their admission that journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed in their consulate in Istanbul, President Trump is shifting his policy toward increasingly vocal defense of the Saudis, and blanket denials that the Saudis are doing anything wrong.
Talk of punishment if found guilty is drying up, and now President Trump is complaining that the media is treating the Saudis as “guilty until proven innocent,” despite having admitted himself that he’d also heard the Saudis are working on an admission that they in fact killed Khashoggi during a “botched interrogation.”
Trump appears content to take the word of Saudi officials as absolute insisting that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman denied any knowledge of what happened in the consulate, and citing the king’s promise of a full investigation.
While certain specifics are still not known, the official narrative shaping up on the Saudi side is that the officials who tortured Khashoggi to death then somehow got rid of his body were not acting on direct orders of the king or the crown prince, but rather were trying to win favor by showing initiative in getting rid of an enemy that the Saudi kingdom, according to US intercepts, had been trying to have dealt with for awhile.
From the Saudi perspective this allows them to promise to punish some officials while maintaining that the leadership is blameless. But as this strategy takes shape, President Trump is increasingly taking a position that the kingdom is blameless in general.
This is likely a response to how poorly Trump’s argument that Khashoggi’s death isn’t worth losing US arms sales deals has been taken. Yet the opportunity to hope the whole incident is forgotten is long past, and a Saudi admission of guilt, however much spin is put on it, is going to force Trump into another shift in position.
Remember when 2 Russian G.R.U. agents went into the U.K. and poisoned one of it’s dissenting ex-generals and his daughter? The whole world new what happened but,Putin shrugged his shoulders and pretended it wasn’t true. Problem with that story was that Britain is covered with surveillance mechanisms that allowed them to chart exactly where they entered and left and Putin’s story fell apart. If it was wrong for the Saudis to kill a man that turned against his government, why wasn’t it wrong when Putin did the same thing? Let’s not be hypocrites guys.
Hasbara has a Saudi division now?
Cowboy/Uncle Sam alert!!!
He/she/it is a shape shifter alright.
What happened to “the real Mr Knapp” ?
Hey, I guess Trump is just following Putin’s lead. When two Russian GRU members entered the U.K. in order to assasinate a former Russian General and it was exposed Putin claimed it never happened and they where tourists. I give it to the Russians at least they weren’t sloppy and used a poisonous substance and didn’t have to chop anybody up. Hey Antiwar people they all do it!!! North Korea’s dictator had his own brother poisoned with help from a sleeper cell hit squad!!! Stop acting like this is something new, all the governments with the capability to do so will do so at some time. FACT.
You sound familiar.
Maybe that guy named “Cowboy” has taken on a new handle.
FACT? Ok, perhaps. But then, N Korea and Russia are not indispensable allies of ours either, are they, to whom we have pledged assistance and protection.
Bibi must have called Don and told him to use his Kavanaugh excuse.
Actually, the “trump excuse”, which Kavanaugh borrowed.
Remember when Russia’s former deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov was assassinated in front of the Kremlin? Remember when Sergei Magnitsky was imprisoned in retaliation for exposing mass theft by high ranking government officials.He was sent to Russia’s notorious Butryka Prison and was brutally raped,assaulted and murdered .He died in prison 7 days before the expiration date of the 1 year term he could legally be held in Russia without a trial. Vladimir Kara Murza has been poisoned twice by Russian agents for dissenting.Open Your Eyes!!!
Would someone explain to me how this incident is any different than what CIA operatives have been doing in our name since the 1950s? The whole bag of tricks: enhanced interrogation (torture), political assassinations, acts of terrorism, false flags… This has been their stock in trade from the get-go.
The big difference is, it’s never reported in the MSM and will never be brought before any international court like this incident will be.
It’s a flimsy difference, but there: The CIA is seen as doing dirty work to defend our supposedly pluralistic, democratic way of life, while the Saudi royals much more flagrantly use their power to serve themselves, with no checks and balances. The other big difference is it looks like the Saudis were promptly caught in the act, and that they were specifically targeting western media. We’ve had plenty of reasons just below the surface to be uncomfortable with the US Saudi relationship, so many Americans are prepared to believe the worst now.
So, it’s good when we do it and bad when they do it. Got it.
50s ? very historically generous of you ( unless it’s just CIA). This murder story is standard double standard US militancy rhetoric . When its Saudi Arabias’ turn to be rubbled, it will resurface along with some 9/11 “revelation”.
So much for Justin Raimondo’s fantasies about Trump cracking down on the Saudis, and then even further fantasizing that Trump’s going to give up his war on Iran.
Also so much for the fantasies of MANY other commentators that the Saudi regime – or at last bin Salman – was going to be overthrown or otherwise be brought to heel. MBS might still have problems over this, but the US won’t be one of them.
Once again, people need to stop overreacting to the latest 24 hour news cycle and wait until something real happens.
As I have predicted on this site, president Trump would do a Kavanaugh on MBS. In fact he did utter the word Kavanaugh during an interview.
Here are the reasons why that is balderdash supreme.
1. Ms. Ford walked out of that house alive. Khashoggi did not walk out of the Saudi consulate alive.
2. In the case of Ms. Ford there were two alleged perpetrators. In the case of Khashoggi there was a whole team. 14 or 15.
3. Trump has claimed that Ms. Ford does not remember the year. In the case of Khashoggi we know the exact date and exact time when he entered the Saudi consulate.
4. Trump has claimed that Ms. Ford does not remember the house in which her rape attempt happened. In the case of Khashoghgi we know exactly in which house he was probably murdered.
5. Trump has claimed that Ms. Ford may have mistaken a man for Kavanaugh. In the case of Khashoggi the Turkish authorities have already made public the names of five Saudi’s who may have participated in the possible murder of Khashoggi.
6. Ms. Ford could have gone to the police with evidence of attempted rape to start an investigation. Kavanaugh cannot go to the Turkish police to be deposed and start an investigation because he is dead.
More apples vs. oranges?
That should make MBS a “target of investigation”. Trouble: by his own FBI which he controls?
And where is the body?
“trump has claimed”?……lol…
Hey warRus and Mr.Carlson I’m not allowed to reply. It might have something to do with the settings the moderator on this site is doing because, people started claiming I’m a robot or A.I subhuman. I contacted Disqus and they responded it was most likely a reply setting that was intentionally or mistakenly set in a manner in which it kept me from replying hence, why I can post a comment and not reply to any. Mr.Knapp is trying to force me to create a Disqus account to satisfy the people on here that claim I’m a robot even though his Disqus software allows him to see my I.P.address .With all this backlash and topic about protecting dissenters you would think Mr.Knapp would want a different perspective on this site but, I guess just like the Saudi King he must silence his most outspoken critics. Mr.Knapp you can call it whining, I call it THE TRUTH. I’m Not creating a Disqus account to satisfy you or ANYBODY ELSE WHINING ABOUT WHY THEY CAN’T BLOCK MY COMMENTS. GROW THE FUCK UP!!! YOU KNOW I’M BURYING YOUR LIL ANTIWAR FOLLOWERS SO YOU FUCK WITH THE SETTINGS. Dissent at your own risk. This site is meant for people who believe America is Evil and only wants people who believe that, even people commenting from Russia but,a dissenting viewpoint.