Imran Jan |
Turkish officials say that Jamal Khashoggi, the American legal resident, and Saudi citizen Op-Ed columnist of the Washington Post, was killed by Saudi agents inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on the orders of the highest Saudi authorities. A senior Turkish official said, “It is like ‘Pulp Fiction’.” Hatice Cengiz, Khashoggi’s Turkish fiancée was waiting for him outside the consulate.
He had gone in there to obtain his paperwork for his wedding; Just one last thing before a happy life. Reminiscent of the epic movie Heat, where Deniro had to take care of one last job before disappearing with his girlfriend. Sadly, both men never came back.
We call on the government of Saudi Arabia to support a thorough investigation of Khashoggi’s disappearance and to be transparent about the results of that investigation.
American intelligence has intercepted communication between Saudis officials discussing a plan to lure Khashoggi from his home in Virginia to Saudi Arabia where he would be detained. “There is a video of the moment of him being killed,” Kemal Ozturk, a columnist in a pro-government newspaper and the former head of a semi-official news agency said.
The Saudis have come up with a laughable face-saving cover story of some rogue operation gone bad. The truth is it appears to be one lousy intelligence job. On 4th March 2018, Sergei Skripal, a former Russian military officer and double agent for the UK’s intelligence services, along with his daughter Yulia Skripal were poisoned with Novichok nerve agent known as A-234 in Salisbury, England, allegedly by Russian agents.
Read more: Turkey vows to reveal ‘naked truth’ over Khashoggi death
They survived. In reaction to the alleged Russian role, about a dozen countries including UK and US expelled more than 100 Russian diplomats and spies in a move Theresa May called the “largest collective expulsion of Russian intelligence officers in history.” The United States expelled over 60 diplomats and shut down the Russian consulate in Seattle.
No group of countries has come together to expel Saudi diplomats and spies. Washington has not expressed any desire or plans of expelling 60 Saudi diplomats and spies as well as shutting down of any Saudi consulate in the United States. The UK has n’t done anything either.
MBS might have misinterpreted in an exaggerated manner America’s tendency to always look the other way.
Khashoggi’s body was dismembered by a bone saw allegedly by an autopsy expert who was part of the 15 member Saudi agents who arrived in Istanbul hours before Khashoggi’s appointment at the Saudi consulate. What kind of murderous thugs Washington and London are allied with? And why the double standard? Why are the Skripals worthy victims while Khashoggi is not?
US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said, “We call on the government of Saudi Arabia to support a thorough investigation of Khashoggi’s disappearance and to be transparent about the results of that investigation.” That is it? That is not even the usual tap on the wrist that Israelis get after they’ve illegally encroached upon Palestinian land and built settlements.
Read more: Jamal Khashoggi changes the Middle East at potentially horrible cost –…
After all, Khashoggi was a legal resident of the United States of America. Trump warned “very severe consequences” if it is proven that the Saudis killed Khashoggi. Muhammad bin Salman had ordered dozens of prominent Saudis, including the billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, to be detained and held incommunicado inside the Riyadh Ritz Carlton in the name of the anti-corruption drive.
The same hotel is hosting the “Davos in the Desert” investment conference from which many CEOs have already pulled out because of the Khashoggi killing. It has been reported that American mercenaries were sent to torture the Saudis inside the hotel. The methods included hanging them upside down.
The Saudi Wahhabis have been paying for the extremist ideology to spread around the world resulting in violence and killings.
He got away with that. He is getting away with the slaughter inside Yemen. When Saddam reportedly misinterpreted America’s signals and invaded Kuwait, he was rolled back militarily. MBS might have misinterpreted in an exaggerated manner America’s tendency to always look the other way.
However, America is absolutely not going to go beyond the tap on the wrist with KSA. Unfortunately, the $110 billion arms deal, the endorsement of US embassy move to Jerusalem, and many other nefarious causes of Washington are too sacrosanct to be sacrificed for Khashoggi. Trump said, “It’s in Turkey, and it’s not a citizen, as I understand it.”
Read more: Saudi Arabia vows retaliation if punished over missing critic
I disagree with the Turkish official who said, “It is like ‘Pulp Fiction’.” In my humble view, it is more like Breaking Bad. In the show, Heisenberg cooks the crystal meth and at one point his meth is distributed all the way to Europe. The Saudi Wahhabis have been paying for the extremist ideology to spread around the world resulting in violence and killings. In all this nefarious cause, it was aided and abetted by Washington and London.
In Breaking Bad, anyone who stood in the way of the drug empire had to be incinerated and disappeared into thin air, just like anyone questioning the Saudi 33-year-old de facto ruler must vanish. Walter White, Gus Fring, and Jesse Pinkman hid in plain sight. Muhammad Bin Salman hides behind plain denial.
Imran Jan is a political analyst, he can be reached at imran.jan@gmail.com. Twitter @Imran_Jan. The Views expressed in this article are author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Global Village Space.