Is This the Break With Saudi Arabia We’ve Been Waiting For? | The American Conservative
Posted by M. C. on October 16, 2018
Sure, but will anything come of it? It shouldn’t have come to this to begin with.
Despite its alleged complicity in the 9/11 attacks
Complicity…now there is a mild word.
By
If the reports of Jamal Khashoggi’s abduction, murder, and dismemberment at the hands of a Saudi kill team dispatched to Istanbul prove correct, his death might achieve what years of abuses by a despotic government have failed to: a meaningful rebuke by the U.S. and its Western allies.
That may have begun with a “60 Minutes” interview of President Donald Trump on Sunday. He said his administration is seeking to “get to the bottom of” the reporter’s disappearance, and if it turns out the reports of Khashoggi’s murder are correct, there would be “severe punishment” for the Kingdom. The comments came as the Saudi stock market continued to plunge on Sunday.
Despite its alleged complicity in the 9/11 attacks, a long history of supporting radical Islamist groups, one of the world’s worst human rights records, and the prosecution of a savage war in Yemen, Saudi Arabia—up until now—has largely escaped censure by both Republicans and Democrats in Washington.
In fact, politicians from both parties have implausibly lauded Saudi Arabia as one of Washington’s most important allies.
Turkish authorities have presented some evidence that the suspected 15 member kill team may have included men who are part of MbS’s close protection squad. There are also reports that U.S. intelligence services intercepted communications that indicate the “young reformer” approved plans to lure Khashoggi back to Saudi Arabia. While this may all come as something of a surprise to the members of the bin Salman fan club, it shouldn’t.
This is the same man who rounded up several hundred Saudi businessmen, princes of the House of Saud, and members of the Saudi Armed forces and confined them to the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Riyadh where they were held until they agreed to sign confessions and most importantly hand over billions of dollars in assets. The crackdown was praised by the Trump administration. At least one of those detained, Major General Ali al-Qahtani, appears to have been tortured to death.
MbS is also the architect of Saudi Arabia’s brutal and futile war in Yemen…
The Saudi air force, with U.S. assistance in the form aerial refueling, has targeted civilian infrastructure, farmland, factories, and, most recently, a bus load of Yemeni children. After the bus bombing, which killed 40 young boys, MbS was reported to have said in a meeting with military brass, “we want to leave a big impact on the consciousness of Yemeni generations. We want their children, women, and even their men to shiver whenever the name of Saudi Arabia is mentioned.”
MbS didn’t have to worry about criticism from the U.S. much less a review of American assistance to the Saudi military….
So far, savaging Yemen, a country of 26 million, a deplorable human rights record at home, and ties to radical Islamists have done nothing to dampen the Trump administration’s and previous administrations’ enthusiasm for the House of Saud. One can only hope that what looks to be the brutal pre-meditated murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a U.S. resident, might finally provoke something other than praise for Saudi Arabia and its de-facto ruler.
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