By Jake Johnson
Common Dreams (10/16/18)
As “shocking and gruesome” new details surrounding Saudi Arabia’s alleged torture and assassination of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi continued to trickle out on Tuesday—with anonymous Turkish officials telling the press that the prominent dissident was beaten, killed by lethal injection, and cut into pieces by the head autopsy doctor of the Saudi defense forces—U.S. President Donald Trump accepted wholesale Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s increasingly implausible claim that he had zero knowledge of what “took place” two weeks ago inside the kingdom’s Turkish consulate.
“Just spoke with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia who totally denied any knowledge of what took place in their Turkish consulate,” Trump wrote on Twitter after a short phone conversation with the heir to the Saudi throne. “He was with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during the call, and told me that he has already started, and will rapidly expand, a full and complete investigation into this matter. Answers will be forthcoming shortly.”
Trump’s tweets came just after Al Jazeera‘s Jamal Elshayyal reported that—contrary to reports the Saudis’ are preparing to float a claim that Khashoggi’s death was the result of a botched interrogation—the journalist was “beaten as soon as he entered the consulate” right in front of the Saudi consul general and was not interrogated.
Shocking & gruesome
Citing Turkish officials who reportedly have access to audio recordings, Jamal Elshayyal wrote that Khashoggi was tortured, killed by lethal injection, and dismembered by the Saudi military’s head autopsy doctor, who insisted “that music be played while he cut up the journalist’s body.”
“These shocking and gruesome details would explain why U.S. intelligence sources told CNN and other American media outlets that they were ‘utterly shocked’ at what the content of the recordings presented to them by the Turkish authorities,” Elshayyal observed.
Following Turkish investigators’ examination of the Saudi consulate on Monday, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters that officials are looking into the possible presence of “toxic materials” inside the Saudi consulate and whether those materials were “removed by painting them over.” …
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(Commoner Call cartoon by Mark L. Taylor, 2018. Open source and free for non-derivative use with link to www.thecommonercall.org )
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Khashoggi Ultimate ‘Crome’: He Picked the Wrong Prince — A Deeper Understanding Of Grotesque Saudi Story
The Real News (10/15/18)
The murder of Jamal Khashoggi should be denounced. Professor As`ad AbuKhalil says western media’s uncritical praise of Khashoggi is unworthy, he was a loyal member of the Saudi propaganda apparatus and chose the wrong side of the House of Saud.
- This Interview In Turkey Triggered Saudi Crown Prince MBS To Take Action Against Jamal Khashoggi: Link to 10-Minute Video