CIA’s accuracy ‘not the highest standard’
ABU DHABI: A senior Saudi prince cast doubt upon the reported CIA finding that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul last month, saying the agency could not be counted on to reach a credible conclusion.
‘‘The CIA is not necessarily the highest standard of veracity or accuracy in assessing situations. The examples of that are multitude,’’ Prince Turki alFaisal, a senior member of the royal family, said in Abu Dhabi yesterday.
The prince, a former Saudi intelligence chief who has also served as ambassador to the United States, pointed to the agency’s conclusion Iraq possessed chemical weapons before the US invasion in 2003.
‘‘That was the most glaring of inaccurate and wrong assessments, which led to a fullscale war with thousands being killed,’’ he said, speaking at an event hosted by the Beirut Institute thinktank.
‘‘I don’t see why the CIA is not on trial in the United States. This is my answer to their assessment of who is guilty and who is not and who did what in the consul ate in bul.’’
The CIA has concluded Prince Mohammed ordered the killing, as first reported by the Washington Post, and briefed other parts of the US Government on its findings, sources told Reuters last week.
US President Donald Trump has disputed the agency reached a conclusion on the murder, saying instead ‘‘they have feelings certain ways’’.
A Turkish newspaper also reported last week that CIA director Gina Haspel signalled to Turkish officials the agency had a recording of a call in which the crown prince gave instructions to ‘‘silence’’ the journalist.
Khashoggi was killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2 in an operation Turkish authorities have said was ordered by the highest level of Saudi leadership, prompting the kingdom’s biggest political crisis in a generation. — Reuters
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