It’s good to be the (son of a) King.
The Saudi and American governments are desperately trying to protect Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman from accountability in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Both are trying to use the members of the hit team sent to Istanbul as scapegoats.
The Saudis announced that the trials of 11 individuals involved in the murder are ready, and five of them will be charged with the death penalty. The announcement is another change of story by Riyadh. First it denied Khashoggi was dead and insisted that he had freely left the consulate on Oct. 2. Then it claimed that he died in a fistfight. Then it was characterized as a premeditated murder ordered by the deputy chief of Saudi intelligence. Now it is supposedly a rendition attempt that went amiss and that Khashoggi was deliberately given an overdose of drugs. The team then lied to the deputy chief of Saudi intelligence to cover up their botched mission. An unnamed local collaborator assisted in disposing of the body.
None of these accounts add up, especially the latest. They don’t explain why the hit team brought bone saws and other devices to dismember a body — devices that were reported on in the Turkish press. They don’t explain why the head of the hit team called the royal palace to report the murder — another report leaked by the Turkish authorities. They don’t explain why a supposedly “rogue” team of assassins could commandeer a Saudi Consulate to conduct a murder. They don’t identify the mysterious collaborator.
www.al-monitor.com/...
The United States announced sanctions on 17 Saudis today for their alleged involvement in the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.
Notably, the list of designees does not include Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, commonly known by his initials MBS, who the Donald Trump administration has cultivated as a key ally in its Middle East endeavors. Nor does it include MBS’ handpicked deputy intelligence chief, Gen. Ahmed al-Asiri, who previously served as the spokesman for the Saudi-led military coalition fighting in Yemen.
The list does, however, include the crown prince’s propaganda chief, Saud al-Qahtani, who has sometimes been described as the Saudi “Steve Bannon,” as well as Maher Mutreb, whom the Treasury Department described as Qahtani’s subordinate who coordinated the Khashoggi assassination. The Treasury Department also sanctioned the diplomat who was serving as the Saudi consul general in Istanbul at the time of Khashoggi’s murder, Mohammed al-Otaibi.
“Saud al-Qahtani is a senior official of the government of Saudi Arabia who was part of the planning and execution of the operation that led to the killing of Mr. Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, on October 2, 2018,” Treasury Secretary Mnuchin said in a press statement. “This operation was coordinated and executed by his subordinate Maher Mutreb, and involved participation of at least 14 other Saudi government officials.”
www.al-monitor.com/...
Good non-dynastic help is hard to find.