Knowing what we already know about Jamal Khashoggi’s death, does anyone seriously believe this shit?
A statement from the Saudi public prosecutor said a fight broke out between Khashoggi and people who met him in the consulate and led to his death.
“The investigations are still underway and 18 Saudi nationals have been arrested,” the statement on state media said, adding that royal court adviser Saud al-Qahtani and deputy intelligence chief Ahmed Asiri have been fired from their positions.
That’s a really cute statement you made there, Mr. Saudi Public Prosecutor. Would be a shame if something were to happen to it…like, oh, say, THE DEATH OF ONE OF THE ASSASSINS IN A RATHER CONVENIENT “ACCIDENT”:
A Turkish newspaper reported on Oct. 18 that one of the suspects involved in the disappearance of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi died in a “suspicious car accident” in Riyadh.
Mashal Saad al-Bostani, a 31-year-old lieutenant of the Saudi Royal Air Forces, was among the 15 suspects who arrived and left Turkey on Oct. 2 after going to Saudi Arabia’s Istanbul consulate when Khashoggi visited there, according to daily Yeni Şafak.
[…]
Daily Hürriyet columnist Abdulkadir Selvi claimed on Oct. 18 that Saudi Arabia’s Istanbul consul Mohammad al-Otaibi could be “the next execution” as Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman “would do anything to get rid of evidence.”
Turkish daily Yeni Şafak reported Oct. 17 that Al-Otaibi’s voice could be heard in one of the recordings, which Turkish authorities are believed to have, of Khashoggi’s “interrogation” at the consulate.
According to the report, after Al-Otaibi told the interrogators to “do it somewhere else outside or I will be in trouble,” he was told to “shut up if you want to live when you are back in Saudi Arabia.”
Yeah, Mr. Al-Otaibi, watch your mouth. You could end up like Mashal Saad al-Bostani, and meet with an “accident”. Just like Jamal Khashoggi indubitably did when he ran into that buzzing bone saw there in your nice, clean consulate in Istanbul, during that nasty-wasty altercation (which he, no doubt, started, if all the right-wing smearmongering and rumormongering are to be believed). An altercation with (checks notes) 15 Saudis who just happened to arrive on the same day, and right before, Mr. Khashoggi came to pick up a document certifying his divorce from his previous wife, which he needed to produce in order to remarry in Turkey. And who left just two hours after they came. (We’ll just ignore the part where it was recorded that they needed just seven minutes to kill him. After all, it was an “altercation” and an “accident”!)
I suppose it was all just an accident, too, that the Turkish authorities found a suspicious van in the consular garage, and have had to search the residence of the consul as well:
A Mercedes Sprinter with the license plate number 34 CC 2342 could be seen in the the last footage showing Khashoggi entering the consulate. Turkish police focused on another consular vehicle, a Mercedes Vito with the license plate of 34 CC 1865, because it was seen in other footage while going back and forth between the consulate and the consul’s residence after the journalist’s disappearance. “34” corresponds to the code for Istanbul and “CC” means that it is a vehicle used by a consulate.
According to a report published by daily Yeni Şafak on Oct. 19, the suspected black van was found by the Turkish police in the closed garage of the consulate during the search. Turkish officials suspect that the Saudi “hit squad” used it to carry the body of the journalist from the consulate to the consul’s residence.
The vehicle had left the consulate and arrived at about 200 meters away at the consul’s residence at 3:09pm, about two hours after Khashoggi entered the Saudi consulate.
Seems like an awful length to go to just to clean up after a fight. Just sayin’.
But the biggest joke of all is what Donnie Drumpf is promising: a “very severe” response. Like what, I wonder? Is he gonna refund their millions and kick them out of the 45th floor of his shitty tower? Or is he just not gonna visit their king anymore and lay hands on that creepy glowing orb of his?
One thing is definitely off the table, and that’s war. Even when 15 of the 19 hijackers on 9-11 proved to be Saudis, the kingdom of Saud was still untouchable. After all, there’s too much money to be made in the US of Amnesia selling them the same weaponry they’re now using against Yemen. Even when Richard Branson himself is willing to forego a literal king’s ransom in business.
Sad.
