President Donald Trump has sent Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Saudi Arabia after allegations that the Saudis arranged the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Khashoggi, who fled Saudi Arabia in September of 2017, entered the Saudi embassy in Turkey on October 2nd, and never exited.
Questions immediately surfaced following his disappearance. Claims have been made by the Turks that before he entered the embassy, Khashoggi’s Apple Watch began recording and uploading to the cloud, allegedly recording his interrogation, torture, and murder. Other sources dispute that it would even be possible such recordings to be transmitted to the internet from the embassy.
At the request of @POTUS Trump, @SecPompeo will travel to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia today. The President has called for a prompt and open investigation into the disappearance of @WashingtonPost journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
— Heather Nauert (@statedeptspox) October 15, 2018
Khashoggi was a critic of the Saudi government, and Crown Price, making him a target of the regime – and as some think, a victim of state murder.
President Trump has said that he personally spoke to Saudi officials “more than once” about Khasoggi’s disappearance, and that they’ve vigorously denied arranging his murder. Obviously, the murder of a journalist isn’t something an alleged ally of the United States is going to confess to, hence the need for further inquiry. Trump also said that if the Saudis are indeed behind Khashoggi’s death, “there will be severe punishment.” Even if Trump doesn’t take action, Congress could retaliate, according to Senator Marco Rubio:
The private sector is already retaliating against Saudi Arabia. An investor conference is being held in the Kingdom later this month, and business leaders including the World Bank’s President, Uber’s chief executive, Richard Branson, and all of CNBC, are boycotting the event. The WWE also planned to host an event in Riyadh, but is now distancing themselves from the nation.
Saudi Arabia is an American ally for one reason and one reason only: oil. Saudi Arabia enforces strict sharia law – putting homosexuals to death, cutting the hands off of thieves, and killing adulterers. They also didn’t abolish slavery until 1962 (and more or less did so in name only), and just started letting women drive. If ISIS had massive oil reserves, would we begin tolerating their barbarity? Obviously not – but that’s exactly what we’re doing with Saudi Arabia.
According to the Energy Information Administration, the US will become a net exporter of oil by 2022. Without oil, will the US have any reason to have a relationship with a literal Islamic State, and State sponsor of terror? Hopefully not.
Trump and Saudis are in one bed
Can somebody tell me why this puke has any importance at all. He’s not an American.
For Christ sake, can we wait until an investigation is completed before accusing anyone of anything? Seems like this same absurd mentality was used in the Kavanaugh confirmation. When did innocent until proven guilty disappear from American jurisprudence? The president is going about this correctly. So, let’s wait until all the facts are known.
I agree with you, have written this when the story first broke.
I have to add this comment because Turkey is involved in this brouhaha about where a Saudi Journalist is and if he’s even dead or alive, snatched or assassinated in turkey from the Saudi embassy.
I have only read one attempt, to define the assassination squad as an assassination squad? How did it become an assassination squad? The media gave it the name.
This problem is further aggravated by the fact once the reporter entered the Saudi Embassy it was the same as if he were in Saudi Arabia.
This sort of thing goes on there all the time, and in many Islamic nations. In a better publicized and informed story, a blogger was hunted down in Saudi by the religious police for writings that were critical of Islam and posting others criticisms on his blog, it is believed the religious police were searching for as many as 25,000 bloggers. He is still incarcerated and receives 30 of 1,000 lashes every month of his 10 year term.
That the disappearance of the journalist took place in Turkey and be made such a big headline and we don’t know if the journalist is dead or alive or if the Assassination Squad was a snatch squad is news?
Given that the world and the UN have turned a blind eye to Islamist tyranny under sharia law and the line between criticizing Muslim governments blurred with criticizing Islam how did the fact this is a journalist and not by any means the first one persecuted under sharia and Islamic national laws is assumed to be in a precarious situation perhaps less threatening than many Palestinian journalists persecuted by the PA become such a head line? What is this? It is barely a news story what are the facts? A journalist went into a building and hasn’t come out.
Great story who’s agenda does it serve?
And this comes in the same time as the release by Turkey of a Christian Pastor held for 2 years, he timing is a matter to question. Is Turkey freeing people it should never have imprisoned on religious grounds and blowing the whistle on Saudi forits purposes as well?