By Umar Farooq
WASHINGTON (AA) – The alleged killing and dismemberment of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi is an “awful thing ” for a myriad of reasons, The New York Times said Thursday.
The newspaper went on to argue the apparent killing of Khashoggi was a terrible move by the Saudi government, who was before seen to the West as perhaps the most reformist in the kingdom's history.
Mohammed bin Salman, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, has been seen by many in the West as a reformer that has brought massive social change and progressive reform to the kingdom.
“Yet murdering a defenseless journalist in your own consulate isn’t toughness. It’s barbarism, ” the Times said.
Khashoggi, a Saudi national and columnist for The Washington Post, was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. Evidence is mounting that the journalist was killed and dismembered by Saudi nationals who flew into Istanbul that same day.
A wiser government would have either simply ignored the journalist, tried to take over any of his assets, or possibly tried him in absentia. But the idea the kingdom would be able to murder him without consequence took a “striking combination of wickedness, arrogance and idiocy for Riyadh. ”
The Times said this incident is unlike any other case of an extrajudicial killing conducted by the U.S. or an ally, which puts the Trump administration in an unprecedented situation.
“Khashoggi was no terrorist, spy, or luckless bystander. He was a gadfly, bouncing between the West and the Middle East, by turns a courtier, commentator, public intellectual and mild dissident, ” the Times wrote.
And Washington cannot simply respond with a “nod and a wink, ” for that will make the U.S. a partner in the crime, not just a lowly bystander, the Times argues.
While some experts say the U.S. needs Saudi Arabia as a regional ally to help share intelligence, pump oil and deter Iranian aggression, the Times said these are not rather necessary as the kingdom will continue to do the latter two tasks regardless of the position the U.S. takes on Khashoggi.
“As for intelligence, if they don’t want to share theirs we needn’t share ours. In the age of fracking, the House of Saud has infinitely more need of the United States than the United States has of the House, ” the Times added.
The newspaper warned U.S. President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that their patience in response to this incident could lead to “another Mideast monster. ”
