Trump issues harsh statement about Khashoggi murder – and takes action against accused killers

[WestVirginiaRebel]

The Blaze

President Donald Trump criticized the “cover up” of the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in a statement to a reporter Tuesday, and the State Department said the U.S. would take action against Saudi Arabia.

“The worst cover up ever”

“They had a very bad original concept,” the president responded. “It was carried out poorly. And the cover up was one of the worst in the history of cover ups.”

“Very simple,” he added.

“Bad deal. Should have never been thought of,” he explained. “Somebody really messed up. And they had the worst cover up ever.”

“And where it should have stopped is at the idea standpoint, when they thought about it,” he continued, “cuz whoever thought of that idea… I think is in big trouble.”

“And they should be in big trouble,” he concluded. “OK?”

The president didn’t directly put the blame on the regime in Saudi Arabia, but it was the first comment of his on the assassination of the journalist that appeared to criticize the Saudis.

Trump called it a “bad situation” but praised the Saudis for investing in the U.S. and creating “thousands” of jobs. He added that he would soon know “everything” that happened with Khashoggi.

“The United States does not tolerate this ruthless action”

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that there will be measures takenagainst the Saudis that are accused for the murder of Khashoggi, including the revocation of travel visas.

“We’re making very clear that the United States does not tolerate this ruthless action to silence Mr. Khashoggi, a journalist, through violence,” Pompeo said in a statement Tuesday.

________

Team Trump responds.

[Valin]

Midest Forum: The Whitewashing of Jamal Khashoggi, Friend of Osama Bin Laden

A.J. Caschetta

Media pundits everywhere are not happy that Jamal Khashoggi’s friendship with Osama bin Laden has become a topic. Robert Costa and Karoun Demirjian write in The Washington Post about a “whisper campaign” with conservatives “raising conspiratorial questions about his work decades ago as an embedded reporter covering Osama bin Laden.”

(Snip)

 

But Khashoggi’s relationship with bin Laden predates his days as an “embedded reporter” in Afghanistan, and it endured after the Soviet Union left Afghanistan in 1989. Need proof? Take a look at Lawrence Wright’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 (2006). 

Wright, who is certainly no conservative, lists Khashoggi as one of the 560 people he interviewed for his book, and Khashoggi is quoted extensively. Let’s have a look.
 
In Chapter 3, Khashoggi is quoted about his early friendship with bin Laden when, as high school students, they both joined the Muslim Brotherhood together: 

Quote

“‘We were hoping to establish an Islamic state anywhere,’ said Jamal Khashoggi, a friend of bin Laden’s who joined the Brotherhood about the same time. ‘We believed that the first one would lead to another, and kind of have a domino effect which could reverse the history of mankind.’” (p. 78)

(Snip)

Wright conveys a sense of desperation, as Khashoggi appeared genuinely concerned about his friend. He tried to assure bin Laden that he was not an agent of the House of Saud, but rather an old friend trying to lend assistance: 
 

“I’m not representing the government. Just say something, break the ice! Maybe there will be a positive reaction. Don’t forget you said a few nasty things about the Kingdom.” (p. 201)

 
When bin Laden failed to take the lifeline his childhood friend was offering, Khashoggi became exasperated: 
 

“‘Osama, any Saudi person would be afraid to be seen with you in public,’ said Jamal. ‘Why can’t you see that?’”

 
Whatever else he was or was not, Jamal Khashoggi was a friend of Osama bin Laden.

[Valin]

Background....

What Does Khashoggi’s Murder Tell Us About the Saudi Power Structure?

Simon Henderson

Oct. 22 2018

The traditional way of looking at Saudi Arabia has been that the royal family rules by consensus and with caution, choosing leaders based on experience and seniority. That template has been increasingly invalidated since the accession of King Salman in January 2015 and the emergence of his thirty-three-year-old son Muhammad bin Salman, who has been crown prince and heir apparent since June 2017.

Under MbS, now the kingdom’s de facto day-to-day leader, Saudi Arabia has begun transforming its economy (in the form of his “Vision 2030” plan), its society (e.g., opening cinemas and giving women the right to drive), and its religion (a supposed reversion to a more “moderate Islam”). Yet he has not opened the political sphere to ordinary Saudis; he also appears to have sharply reduced the role of the wider al-Saud family, sidelining thousands of princes.

The kingdom’s once-broad power structure now appears to rest on the shoulders of two men. King Salman, age eighty-two and in declining health, is increasingly a mere figurehead, albeit a diplomatically convenient one for Riyadh during the Jamal Khashoggi crisis. The fiction of his rule was preserved most recently by a telephone call from President Trump and a short visit with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The royal orders sacking a key media advisor to MbS and four intelligence officials were issued in the king’s name, though it is unclear how involved he was in the decision.

(Snip)