Darrell Castle talks about the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and what his death means for the American-Saudi Alliance.

Transcription / Notes: 

THE DEATH OF ONE JOURNALIST

Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report.  Today is Friday, October 26, 2018, and on Today’s Report I will be talking about the death, or at least the apparent death, of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.  I call him journalist because that is what he was and had been since the 1970’s, an internationally prominent journalist.  Let’s take a look today at who else this man Jamal Khashoggi really was.

Mr. Khashoggi fled to the United States and Great Britain after writing articles critical of the Saudi Regime, especially new Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.  He obviously knew that if he ever set foot in Saudi Arabia again he would be killed or spend the rest of his life in a Saudi prison.  The new Crown Prince apparently has no qualms whatsoever about using violence against his political enemies.  However, I’ve heard it said that "love conquers all", and Mr. Khashoggi apparently fell in love because he made an appearance at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul Turkey, in order to divorce his Saudi wife and marry his Turkish girlfriend, and after he walked into the consulate, he was never seen again.

This man wore more hats than just internationally famous journalist and writer for the Washington Post.  He was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood and a lifelong friend of Osama bin Laden.  Part of his role as a journalist was to serve as the propagandist and apologist for the terror groups Hamas and al Qaida.  His fiancé waited outside the consulate for him as he was completing the paperwork but he never came to her so she called the police.

The Saudis at the consulate claimed they did not know what happened to him.  Back in Saudi Arabia Crown Prince bin Salman insisted that Khashoggi left shortly after completing his paperwork. President Trump called King Salman and was told that the Crown Prince was in charge of the investigation and the Prince said we had nothing to do with it.  So, the King of Saudi Arabia puts the main suspect in a murder in charge of the investigation of that murder, but that is just one of the bazaar plot twists in this case.

The Saudis have since changed their story back and forth several times but have settled on a version that has him dying during an “interrogation” gone wrong.  The Turks, of course, have a different view of things.  They say that on that same day, October 2, fifteen Saudis arrived in Istanbul in the morning and left on two different flights that same evening.  The Turks produced videotapes of the fifteen Saudis arriving at the airport but close investigation revealed that some of the tapes were five years old.  The Turks say they have proof that he was killed inside the consulate.  Their proof includes tapes, which prove at least by audio that he was killed there.

They say that his voice is clear on the tapes along with the voices of men speaking Arabic.  They say you can hear how he was interrogated, tortured and murdered, at least that is the story given to the Washington Post.  The Turks further claim that his body was dismembered by a bone saw and somehow transported out of the consulate, I suppose by the fifteen Saudis.  Perhaps they put his pieces in diplomatic pouches and took him back to Riyadh.

 Now however, there are reports that his body has been discovered in pieces buried in the garden of the consul general.  The Turks needed Saudi permission to enter the Saudi consulate and search, but the Crown Prince had little choice but to give permission.  It appears that this body parts discovery is true, and if so, the Prince will have difficulty separating himself from it and that makes President Trump’s position even more tenuous.  Surveillance video also shows a Saudi body double leaving in Khashoggi’s clothes after he was killed.  So in this version of the event the Saudis included in ...