Trump’s response to Saudis unworthy of U.S.
The following is from a San Diego Union-tribune editorial:
The debate over whether America’s foreign policy should be guided by ideals or by amoral pragmatism has endured since the nation’s founding.
Which brings us to President Donald Trump’s decision not to challenge the claims from Saudi Arabia that the brutal Oct. 2 murder and dismemberment of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul was done by government agents without the knowledge of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. That denial challenges the CIA’S conclusion, with “high confidence,” that the prince ordered the murder and a State Department official’s assessment that that’s “blindingly obvious.”
In a bizarre, exclamation-point-filled statement released Tuesday by the White House, Trump asserted that while he considers Khashoggi’s assassination “an unacceptable and horrible crime,” it was an open question whether “the crown prince had knowledge of this tragic event — maybe he did and maybe he didn’t!”
This gives the crown prince credibility when he deserves none. The claim that he didn’t know that a government hit squad had been sent to Turkey isn’t just at odds with everything that is known about how the rigidly hierarchical Saudi government works. It’s also undercut by weeks of lies the Saudis told after Khashoggi’s disappearance — first saying he left the consulate alive, and then saying his murder was a result of a botched, unauthorized kidnapping.
Trump justified his acceptance of the Saudis’ feeble coverup by citing the importance of the U.s.-saudi relationship in combating Iran and global terrorism and Riyadh’s heavy purchases of U.S. weapons. In so doing, he indirectly encouraged every global government that has positive ties with Washington to brutalize its dissidents — specifically journalists — knowing that as long as their nations are of strategic value to the Trump administration, the consequences would be minor.
The president so frequently shows contempt for democratic norms — most notably by bullying the Justice Department, vilifying members of the judiciary and demonizing the media — that some people will just shrug their shoulders at this. But tolerating savagery from the Saudis is going too far. Congress must seek to impose sanctions on both bin Salman and the Saudi government. If Trump vetoes sanctions, so be it. At least one part of the government — Congress — will have stood up for American values.