The Saudi murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi remains a major issue
internationally, and a major subject in Congressional votes on US-Saudi
relations. A recent UN report suggested that a proper FBI investigation
could really go a long way toward clarifying the situation.
President Trump has rejected the idea, however,
and once again suggested that this would jeopardize US arms sales to
the Saudis, since the general consensus is that the Saudi Crown Prince
ordered the murder.
Trump dismissed the murder in the first place over fears of “over $100
billion” in arms sales, and is now saying they’re going to spend $400
billion to $450 billion “over a period of time, all money, all jobs.”
Trump spoke with the Crown Prince last week, roughly at the time the UN
report that once again blamed him for the murder came out. Trump,
however, said that the murder “really didn’t come up” in their
conversation.
It’s not clear which is the more disturbing possibility here, if
President Trump was pressured once again by the Crown Prince to cover up
this murder, or if he’s moved on so far from being bought off on that
murder that he didn’t bother to bring it up in a week when both a UN
report on the murder was coming and the Senate was voting against arms
sales specifically because of that murder.
Either way, Trump’s comment underscores that the administration’s policy
on Saudi Arabia, and the Khashoggi murder, are continuing to be driven
exclusively by how much money the president thinks he can get out of the
kingdom for trying to maintain an increasingly crumbling status quo.
Murder is okay as long as someone makes enough profit from it.
Profits over morality. That’s the good old USA way!
Why is this any of our business? Did anyone think the Saudis were choir boys? How many people has the CIA murdered?
The FBI was helping its Turkish counterparts in Istanbul in investigating the murder of Saudi Journalist Jamal Khashoggi within the Saudi Embassy there. Khashoggi was writing articles in US newspapers, and thus, the FBI was called to investigate his murder inside the Saudi Embassy.
The reason this is our business is that the Turkish counterparts of the FBI requested their help in this investigation, pure and simple. Nobody thought the Saudis were choir boys; and the CIA has murdered millions of people. Congress has acted to prevent DJT from selling arms to Saudi Arabia, due to Khashoggi’s brutal murderer.