President Trump says he will be releasing a “very full report” on the Saudi murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Istanbul consulate within the next two days. Trump promised the report will include “who did it.”
The odds are this official report won’t implicate the Saudi crown prince, as the CIA already did that in their own assessment, leading President Trump to complain that it was “premature” for the CIA to make that conclusion.
Trump has repeatedly made it clear that he doesn’t want to see the Khashoggi murder threaten US arms sales to the Saudis. He has said the Saudis assured him the crown prince didn’t do it, and seems to be sticking to that in his comments.
As far as evidence to the contrary, the CIA has cited a phone call that lured Khashoggi to the consulate as a key part of the determination, as well as the reality that the crown prince is so heavily involved in everything done on behalf of the kingdom, they determined it was virtually unthinkable that he didn’t play a role.
The biggest piece of evidence in the whole incident, however, is an audio recording of the murder itself. Trump addressed the tape today, saying he already knows “everything that went on in the tape without having to hear it,” and that he sees no reason to listen to it himself. He did not elaborate on what went on in the tape.
This has been a recurring aspect of US treatment of the recording, with all top officials seemingly going out of their way not to hear it so they don’t have to speak to its contents publicly.
I’ve seen vats of sheep dip that have a keener acumen than our “President”.
There was not the slightest reason why the papers which Kashoggi needed to get married could not have been made available at the Saudi embassy in Washington. What makes this crime even more heinous is that Kashoggi needed these papers to get married. It was an unsuspecting or else not sufficiently suspecting groom who walked into his murder with his bride waiting outside. Almost out of a Shakespearean tragedy.
This was not a small one-on-one operation. A sizable team of assassins was dispatched to Istanbul. The Crown Prince may not have concocted the plan but could it have started without his OK since there was a risk of discovery?
I believe that there was a Plan B for that calamity: “Kashoggi walked out of our consulate alive”. That blew up because of the outside camera and Kashoggi’s bride. From there on it was all Saudi panic.
“There was not the slightest reason why the papers which Kashoggi needed to get married could not have been made available at the Saudi embassy in Washington.”
And you know this how? The papers were apparently required by Turkey, not by the US. Khashoggi’s fiancee was a Turk, not an American. Why would the Saudi embassy in the US be tasked with providing papers for the Turkish government concerning a Turkish matter?
My word “slightest” was sneering, contemptuous of the government of Saudi Arabia. Of course it has not the slightest of decency. None. Zilch.
And I know what I am talking about. I assure you that the representatives of the US government in the Netherlands were truly civilized when we applied for our immigration papers in 1961.
Also when I was still a Dutch citizen but a “green carder” here I needed a Dutch passport to travel abroad and enter the Netherlands. I needed a new one. I had the choice of picking up a new passport in The Hague or at the Dutch consulate in Houston. I chose the Dutch Consulate in Houston where I picked up my new passport. It was me who had to apply (= demand) for that document. If I had not applied I would not have received a new passport.
That is how “I know this how” what the Dutch government did for me. That was a decent service for a citizen.
If I had needed a birth certificate to get married to a Canadian woman in Canada the German government would have sent that document to the German consulate in Houston for me to pick it up. I would not have to go to Canada to pick it up. “That is how I know this how”.
Governments of civilized countries will do that for you.
I think that your argument is therefore disingenuous. Yes, the Turkish government demanded that Kashoggi must have a certain document to get married. The fact that his bride was a Turkish citizen and that he planned to marry in Turkey is irrelevant. He needed it because the Turkish authorities demanded it. However he had to get that document from the government of Saudi Arabia, not from the government of Turkey. There seems to be no defensible reason why his need could not have been satisfied here in the US. The Dutch and German governments would have done that for me. They are civilized. The government of Saudi Arabia is not and I am not so sure where to place the Turkish government on that scale.
You write “Why would the Saudi embassy in the US be tasked with providing papers…” Wrong. It was not the consulate but the government of Saudi Arabia which was tasked with providing a paper”. If the Saudi government had sent the document to Washington that embassy would have been “tasked” to inform Kashoggi that he could come and pick it up. Every civilized government would have telegraphed “congratulations for getting married. Would you like to pick up your xxx document at our embassy in Washington or at our consulate in Istanbul? Please let us know.”
One of the vilest aspects of this assassination is that the Government of Saudi Arabia lured Kashoggi to its consulate in Istanbul with the lollipop of him getting over the last hurdle to get married. How vile! They would not have dared to kill and dismember him in Washington. Yes there was a reason why they did not send the document to Washington.
The fact is trump needs Saudi money to keep his hotels operating.
That train has left already; no one believes the clown prince (as MoA calls him) was not involved. In fact, reading the WaPo article describing the CIA’s position, apparently everyone in DC knows who is responsible.
So: does the president want to look an utter and complete fool? Is this worth that much to him? As always, these are political calculations and opaque to we the people.
What, a President is going to release a report on this? Why? Well aside that he’s the major and perhaps only defender of Mohammad bin Salman.
US profits Trump`s all.
Remember Scirpal hoax case…..massive sanctions without any proof.
Somebody needs to leak that tape.