He Deserved Better …

Posted on by under Global Issues, Law and justice, Political commentary

Often in these days of the manic news cycle, with Trump dominating nearly every headline, we forget stories from a few months, or even a few days ago.  And I find that there is a portion of the people who don’t really care about anything that doesn’t appear to affect them directly.  The brutal murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, therefore, may have been relegated to the backs of most people’s minds, but … pull it out and dust it off, if you will, just for a few minutes.

Mr. Khashoggi was a Saudi Arabian dissident, author, columnist for The Washington Post, and a general manager and editor-in-chief of Al-Arab News Channel.  On October 2nd, as his bride-to-be waited outside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul where Mr. Khashoggi had gone to obtain documents needed for his wedding, Mr. Khashoggi was set upon in a well-planned attack within the consulate. It would be two weeks later, October 15th, before a search would turn up evidence that Mr. Khashoggi had not only been murdered, but tortured and dismembered.

So why is he back on my radar today?  Because last week Turkey opened a trial into the Khashoggi’s murder accusing 20 Saudi nationals, though in absentia, for Saudi Arabia refuses to extradite them.  The murder took place in Turkey, so it is only right and proper the trial be held there.  Twenty Saudis are on trial, likely to be convicted for their part in the plot, and likely to be sentenced to death.  None, however, are likely to ever be punished.  But what bothers me most is that the one person who, more than any other, is responsible for this horrible murder is not on trial and never will be.  That person is Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, aka MbS. trump-bin-salmanThe Saudi government has prosecuted 11 men for carrying out the killing, and sentenced five of them to death in December, but did not find any senior officials responsible.  Imagine that.

The twenty on trial in Turkey?  They were plebes doing just what they were told.  Sure, they are guilty as hell, but … the real guilt is on the one who ordered the murder from the comfort of his luxurious palace.  And he will likely never pay the price.

If Jamal Khashoggi had not come to the United States in 2017 and been hired by The Washington Post, we might not have even noticed his brutal murder, for most people in the U.S. don’t pay much attention to what happens in the Middle East.  But he did come here seeking asylum, seeking safe harbour.  He was a part of our nation, even though he was an immigrant.  He trusted us.  No, we had no way to keep him safe while he was in Turkey, so that is not our burden to bear.  But what is our burden to bear is that the so-called leader of the U.S., one Donald Trump, without any justification, disputed information provided by the CIA proving that MbS ordered Khashoggi’s murder, and instead lavished praise on the Crown Prince.  He was more concerned about selling weapons to Saudi Arabia than the brutal murder of a man of honour.

Back in April, 18 months to the day after Khashoggi’s murder, Trump called bin Salman “my friend”.  What a slap in the face to Mr. Khashoggi … what a slap in the face to us all.  Mr. Khashoggi was, by all indications a good man, a man with a conscience, a man who was not afraid to speak up and tell the truth.  He deserved better.

49 thoughts on “He Deserved Better …”

  1. Thank you for sharing!!.. again, Donald Trump is only interested in Donald Trump and he will associate only with those who will fuel his ego and his vanity!.. history has verified that… again, there are those who know all they have to do is cater to him, fuel his ego and he will give them what they want to keep their support… they care little about anything or anyone else!.. 🙂

    “The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom”. Isaac Asimov

    Liked by 3 people

    • What amazes me most is that his base either cannot see what he is doing to this country, else do not care … I’m not sure which, maybe some combination of the two. Thanks Dutch! Good quote by Asimov!

      Liked by 1 person

      • Like Donald, his base is closed minded, has their comfort zone and only care about themselves…. again are using him to get what they want because they can…the same applies to other countries and unfortunately some have conflicts… perhaps this virus thing is being a eye opener and hopefully wisdom will set in in the near future… We need to work with the “foundation” for I do think change is in the winds… 🙂

        Liked by 3 people

  2. Jill, thanks. I find comfort in knowing that all wrongs will be addressed someday and Mr. Khashoggi will see his murderers fry in hell. We may never see justice wrought, but rest assured, the Almighty Justifier will take care of the details.

    Liked by 3 people

    • He definitely did. To correct one thing, though … he wasn’t a U.S. citizen, but had only emigrated here the year before his murder. But, the more I am digging into all this, the more I see that Trump defended MbS for his own personal interests in Saudi Arabia, not even for national interests. There may be a follow up post next week.

      Liked by 2 people

  8. Jill, you are so right. He deserved better. Based on his history before and after the election, the two short answer reasons the president would not pursue this is 1) personal financial interest in Saudi Arabia and 2) they appeal to his ego rolling out the red carpet.

    Having worked with a narcissist long before the election, the best way to work with a narcissist is to “market” to them. In so doing, they will listen to you. The people that stroke Trump’s ego, can maneuver him – sadly, autocrats get that better than democratically elected officials. History is filled with “Royal whisperers,” who advise the autocrat.

    Keith

    Liked by 3 people

    • After posting this, I came across a video compilation of clips where both before and after becoming president, he bragged about how much money he had made from his close ties to Saudi Arabia. I may do a follow up using that … it is truly disgusting.

      Yep, I worked for a narcissist for several years in the publishing industry, and I learned the way to get anywhere with him was to praise him, to stoke his huge ego. The leader of the nation shouldn’t be that person, though. Sigh.

      Liked by 1 person

  9. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave a speech on August 11, 1956 at the 50th Anniversary celebration of the Alpha Phi Alpha, which is the oldest black fraternity in the country. King, himself, was an Alpha and was given the Alpha Award of Honor that night. These words spoken on that night still resonate today : “We need leaders not in love with money but in love with justice. Not in love with publicity but in love with humanity. Leaders who can subject their particular egos to the pressing cause of freedom.” The World is filled with leaders who fall woefully short of those goals, but none more than trump…as proven by his dismissal of justice for the cold blooded murder of Jamal Khashoggi and embracement of MbS. Thank-you!

    Liked by 3 people

  10. This saddens me, Jill. We have been so inundated with Trump and his henchmen that we are losing our humanity. No, it sickens me! I sicken me!I can blame it on my memory slowly disappearing. But I won’t. And how many other Kashoggis are out there? Too many to count, or to even know their names.

    Liked by 3 people

    • I agree … I am sickened and disgusted. The bombardment of ‘news’ these days, mostly about Trump, pushes everything else into the background. There are many, many more out there that deserve our notice, but don’t blame yourself … there is only so much that the human mind can absorb. Right now, I can justify keeping Trump’s atrocities in the foreground because in trying to make people aware, I am trying to help get him voted out before he turns this nation into a dictatorship that would harm the entire globe. But still, we need to pay attention, as best we can, to other things too. You notice in the past week or so, the BlackLivesMatter movement hasn’t been much in the news, nor has the call to end police racism and brutality. Sigh.

      Liked by 1 person

      • BLM isi n the news everyday here in Canada, or at least in Alberta, which is surprising because it is such a redneck province. Our Little Trump wannabe premier is trying hard to ruin things like BLM, but a lot of people are surprising the hell out of me. Mind you, we have had a lot of immigration from Africa and the Middle East in the last twenty years, and that is helping, but it’s also giving the racists a lot more fuel for their fire too. It seems every day some racist is telling a new Canadian to “Go back where you came from!”
        Also, more tapes and videos are popping up every couple of days with a new case of police brutality.

        Liked by 2 people

  11. Jamal Khashoggi deserved so much better and under virtually any other leader he;d have got it. An official complaint could have cost MbS his title as Crown Prince and cost him a lot of his protection. which could eventually have cost him his life. The King id very particullar that the Kingdom be not brought into international disrepute.
    Cwtch

    Liked by 3 people

    • Yes, even Erdoğan was enraged by Khashoggi’s brutal murder, but not Trump … Trump was more concerned about keeping his relationship with MbS so that he could sell the Saudis arms which they would use to kill innocents in Yemen. Grrrrrrrrrrr. I hope the crown prince gets what’s coming to him, but I seriously doubt it. I think he would arrange for the king’s death before he would let himself be removed from power. It is rumoured that MbS has kept his father and mother separated for years, for his mother is against his power grab and he fears that she would influence his father.
      Cwtch

      Liked by 2 people

    • Some days I think I want to leave … I’m coming back as a wolf! But, for the most part I want to stay and try to make a positive contribution to help bring about that ‘wave of enlightenment’ you talk about, to try to do something to make the world a little bit better.

      Liked by 2 people

Comments are closed.