Disappearing Oct. 2 from the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, 59-year-old Saudi Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi is feared dead, killed by a 15-man assassination squad from Riyadh. While Saudi authorities deny any involvement in Khashoggi’s death, the Turkish government produced video of Khashoggi entering the Saudi embassy Oct. 2. There’s no video footage of Khashoggi leaving the embassy, raising the grim possibility that he left the building dismembered in body bags when 15 Saudi agents left the consulate Oct. 2, and flew back on two private jets from Istanbul’s Ataturk International Airport. Saudi officials can’t explain what the 15 Saudis were doing in Isranbul, despite some with forensic and autopsy experience. All fingers point to a Saudi hit on Khashoggi for filing critical reports of 33-tear-old Saudi Defense Minister Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Since 2017, Bin-Salman’s responsible for a palace coup, incarcerating many of the Royal Family, accusing them of corruption. Bin Salman has consolidated power as the heir apparent to Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, sweeping aside any rivals from the Royal Family. Killing Khashoggi ups the ante for Bin Salman putting his enemies on notice that no one would be spared in his attempts to assert control over the Kingdom. Whatever Bin Salman’s denials, he has a lot of explaining to do after CCTV captured 15 Saudi secret agents de-planing from two private jets at Istanbul’s Attaturk Airport. Capturing the Saudi hit squad on video at the Ataturk Airport and entering the Saudi consulate offers convincing evidence that something took place in the Saudi embassy. When you consider that Saudi Intel Col. Maher Mutreb was in the group, it looks awfully suspicious.
U.S. President Donald Trump has been cautious not to rush to judgment about what looks like a Saudi assassination squad that disposed of Kahasoggi. Trump and other U.S. officials must come to grips with the growing likelihood that Khashoggi was murdered and disposed of by a Saudi hit squad. Muhammad Almadari, a forensics expert, was among the 15 Saudis at the Saudi embassy in Istanbul. Despite having hotel reservations for two nights, all 15 Saudis returned on private jet to Riyadh Oct. 2, the day Khashoggi disappeared. Turkish authorities say a Turkish employee in the Saudi embassy heard a scuffle, arguments and screams in the consulate, before everything went silent. All 15 Saudis in the embassy waited for Khashoggi to enter the consulate to obtain copies of his official Saudi divorce papers. Khashoggi told a friend before the meeting he didn’t trust the Saudi government.
Months before Khasoggi’s Oct. 2 meeting, Saudi officials offered Khashoggi a government job if he returned to Riyadh. Khashoggi reportedly told his friend he didn’t “trust” the Saudi’s offer. Filing reports for the Washington Post about Bin Salaman’s brutal crackdown in Riyadh and deadly war in Yemen, Bin Salman had Khashoggi’s on his hit list. When Khashoggi’s Turkish fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, waited for Khashoggi Oct. 2 outside the Saudi consulate and was told to contact Turkish authorities if he didn’t come out, she knew something happened. Cengiz notified Turkish police at 1630 when Khashoggi didn’t come out. Turkish CCTV shows black limousines moving between the Saudi consulate and Consul General’s residence at 1500. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan promised his government would release all information about Khashoggi’s disappearance.
Erdogan wants to give Riyadh some breathing room to figure out what happened before expelling the Saudi Consul General. He promised to release all CCTV footage and anything else related to Khashoggi’s disappearance. Bin Salamn’s running out of time before Erdogan and Trump respond formally to Khashoggi’s disappearance, leaving Riyadh no option other than to come clean or face draconic consequences. “He was the kindest person I knew,” said Abdulrahman Elshayyal two days before Khashoggi disappeared, a close journalist friend. “He believed in his countryman,” said Elshayyal. “He was making a stand, as if to say, ‘If something happens, people will know that I put my faith in my people—and they won’t harm me,’” said Khashoggi. U.S. elected officials, led by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), won’t let business-as-usual continue if Saudis killed Khashoggi.
Connecting the dots, there’s not much Saudi Arabia can do or say to deny involvement in Khashoggi’s disappearance. While U.S. forensics experts haven’t confirmed blood-or-fiber evidence of Khashoggi’s death yet, there’s plenty of compelling circumstantial evidence pointing to a Saudi assassination squad. Neither the U.S. nor Turkey has accused Riyadh yet of premeditated murder but the time is drawing near. There’s only so much leeway the U.S. and Turkey can give Riyadh before both governments feel insulted by Saudi denials. Whatever future losses in business with Saudi Arabia, Trump must suck-in-up and do what’s right. No U.S. president can do business with a country engaged in extra-judicial assassinations. British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said his government expects “urgent answers” from Riyadh before consequences set in.
