Explaining overarching concerns about U.S. national security, 72-year-old President Donald Trump battled the press, calling for the U.S. to break off diplomatic relations over Jamal Khashoggi’s Oct. 2 murder by Saudi operatives in the consulate in Istanbul. Trump explained clearly the big picture of breaking off diplomatic relations or halting billions in arms sales to the Kingdom. With the press questioning the latest Wall Street meltdown, they’re simultaneously asking Trump to harshly punish Saudi Arabia for Khashoggi’s death. When the CIA said Nov. 17 that 33-year-old Saudi Defense Minister Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salaman ordered Khashoggi’s death, the press went wild, expecting Trump to harshly punish the Kingdom Most people recall when the CIA insisted that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction prompting the March 23, 2003 Iraq War.
Even conceding that there’s simply no other reasonable explanation for Khashoggi’s death, given that Bin Salman controls Saudi’s intel and national security apparatus, Trump’s trying to balance what’s good for the U.S. economy and national security. “We may never know all of the facts surrounding the murder of Mr. Jamal Khashoggi,” Trump told reporters, hammering him about the CIA estimate. Saudi Arabia’s shifting explanations for Khashoggi’s Oct. 2 disappearance and death suggest that the Kingdom got caught with its pants down. “In any case, our relationship is with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. They have been a great ally in our very important fight against Iran,” raising the strategic importance of the Kingdom. Several U.S. senators including Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) have called on Trump to break off arms sales.
Trump told an impromptu White House press conference that severely punishing Saudi Arabia could spike U.S. and world oil prices, contributing to an already global economic slowdown. “The United States intends to remain a steadfast partner of Saudi Arabia to ensure the interests of our country, Israel and other partners in the region,” Trump said. Whether Bin Salman ordered the extrajudicial assassination of Khashoggi or not, it’s not up to the press to decide what’s in the best interests of the United States. Cutting off Saudi Arabia would undermine 70-years of economic and global partnership, where the two nations have worked together on various national security threats. Few in the press report that Khashoggi was an avid member of the Muslim Brotherhood, sworn to toppling the Saudi monarchy. If the Saudi regime considered Khashoggi a traitor, it’s not the U.S. business to dispute it.
Khashoggic found out what happens when a liberal publication like the Washington Post gives him free license to attack his native land. Khashoggi’s got the forum he wanted to criticize Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. He knew the possible repercussions of ripping his homeland, for the purpose of promoting regime change in Saudi Arabia. However brutal his murder, he and the Post partnered together to expose to U.S. citizens and the world the brutal repression in the land of Mecca and Medina. Trump’s never said he agrees with the politics inside the Kingdom. What he told the press was that Saudi Arabia is a key U.S. ally in the ongoing fight against Islamic terror groups like al-Qaeda and Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS]. “It’s a mean, nasty world out there—the Middle East in particular,” said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo responding to press criticism.
Trump and the European Union already sanctioned the individuals who participated in Khashoggi’s killing. Pompeo wanted the press to put in perspective what they’re asking the president to do. “It is the president’s obligation, indeed the State Department’s duty as well, to ensure that we adopt policies that further America’s national security.” Feinstein called on Trump to sanction Bin Salman and vote against future arms sales. Feinstein damaged her credibility after trying, but failing, to sabotage Brett Kavanaugh’s appointment to the Supreme Court. Lucky for Trump, Feinstein’s in a weakened position with the Senate adding three, possibly, four Republicans. “Human rights is more than just a phrase, it has to mean something,” Feinstein said, forgetting that she was willing to deny Kavanaugh due process because she “believed” accuser Christine Blasey Ford trying to keep him off the court.
No one, including Trump, denies the human rights abuses and brutal repression in Saudi Arabia and most other Mideast countries. When you consider that Khashoggi’s killing was an extrajudicial assassination, it’s really Saudi Arabia and Turkey’s business what happened. Khashoggi wasn’t really a Washington Post journalist as reported in the press. He was given access to the Post’s op-ed page to attack his former homeland for whatever reason. If Saudi Arabia considered Khashoggi a traitor, it’s not official U.S. business. Trump has been told by King Salman and Bin Salman that they were not involved in Khashoggi’s assassination. Whether it was a rogue operation or not, there’s only so much the U.S. can do other than condemn what happened. When it comes to ongoing contracts impacting the U.S. economy, it would be foolhardy for the U.S. to harm its interests over Khashoggi’s death.
