TRUMP AND THE MURDERING 9-11 MUSLIM SAUDIS…
Why is the Swamp Keeper and his family of parasites up their
ar$es??
WHAT WILL TRUMP AND
HIS PARASITIC FAMILY DO FOR MONEY???
JUST ASK THE
SAUDIS!
JOHN DEAN: Not
so far. This has been right by the letter of the special counsel’s charter.
He’s released the document. What I’m looking for is relief and
understanding that there’s no witting or unwitting likelihood that the
President is an agent of Russia. That’s when I’ll feel comfortable, and no
evidence even hints at that. We don’t have that yet. We’re still in the process
of unfolding the report to look at it. And its, as I say, if [Attornery General
William Barr] honors his word, we’ll know more soon.
“Our entire crony capitalist system, Democrat and
Republican alike, has become a kleptocracy
approaching par with
third-world hell-holes. This
is the way a great country is raided by
its elite.” ---
- Karen McQuillan AMERICAN THINKER
PRESIDENT of the UNITED STATES DONALD TRUMP: Pathological liar, swindler, con man, huckster, golfing cheat, charity foundation fraudster, tax evader, adulterer, porn whore chaser and servant of the Saudis dictators
THE TRUMP FAMILY FOUNDATION SLUSH FUND…. Will they see jail?
VISUALIZE REVOLUTION!.... We know where they live!
“Underwood is a Democrat
and is seeking millions of dollars in penalties. She wants Trump and his eldest
children barred from running other charities.”
Opinion: Trump And
Pompeo Have Enabled A Saudi Cover-Up Of The Khashoggi Killing
In the weeks following the death
of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, President Trump spent more time praising Saudi Arabia as a very
important ally than he did reacting to the killing.
Hasan Jamali/AP
Aaron David Miller (@aarondmiller2) is a senior fellow at the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a former State Department Middle
East analyst, adviser and negotiator in Republican and Democratic
administrations. He is the author most recently of the End of Greatness: Why America Can't Have (and Doesn't Want)
Another Great President.
Richard Sokolsky, a nonresident senior fellow at the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace, worked in the State Department for six
different administrations and was a member of the secretary of state's Office
of Policy Planning from 2005 to 2015.
It has been a year since Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist
Jamal Khashoggi entered Saudi Arabia's Consulate in Istanbul where he was slain
and dismembered. There is still no objective or comprehensive Saudi or American
accounting of what occurred, let alone any real accountability.
The Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's admission in a
recent CBS interview that he takes "full
responsibility," while denying foreknowledge of the killing or that he
ordered it, sweeps under the rug the lengths to which the Saudis have gone to
obscure the truth about their involvement in the killing and cover-up.
The administration's weak and
feckless response to Khashoggi's killing was foreshadowed a year before it
occurred. In May 2017, in an unusual break with precedent, Trump visited Saudi
Arabia on his inaugural presidential trip; gave his son-in-law the authority to
manage the MBS file, which he did with the utmost secrecy; and made it
unmistakably clear that Saudi money, oil, arm purchases and support for the
administration's anti-Iranian and pro-Israeli policies would elevate the U.S.-Saudi
"special relationship" to a new level.
Predictably, therefore, the
administration's reaction to Khashoggi's killing was shaped by a desire to
manage the damage and preserve the relationship. In the weeks following
Khashoggi's death, Trump spent more time praising Saudi Arabia as a very important
ally, especially as a purchaser of U.S. weapons and goods, than he did reacting to
the killing. Trump vowed to get to the bottom of the Khashoggi killing but
focused more on defending the crown prince, saying
this was another example of being "guilty before being
proven innocent."
Those pledges to investigate and impose accountability would
continue to remain hollow. Over the past year, Trump and Pompeo have neither
criticized nor repudiated Saudi actions that have harmed American interests in
the Middle East. Two months after Khashoggi's death, the administration, in
what Pompeo described as an "initial step," imposed sanctions on 17 Saudi individuals
implicated in the killing. But no others have been forthcoming, and the visa
restrictions that were imposed are meaningless because none of the sanctioned
Saudis would be foolish enough
to seek entry into the United States.
What's more, the administration
virtually ignored a congressional resolution imposing
sanctions on the Saudis for human rights abuses and vetoed another bipartisan
resolution that would have ended U.S. military assistance to Saudi Arabia's
inhumane military campaign in Yemen.
The Saudis opened a trial in January of 11 men implicated in the
killing, but the proceedings have been slow and secretive, leading the United
Nations' top human rights expert to declare that "the trial underway in
Saudi Arabia will not deliver credible accountability." Despite
accusations that the crown prince's key adviser Saud al-Qahtani was involved in
the killing, he's still advising MBS, has not stood trial and will likely escape
punishment. A year later, there are still no reports of convictions or serious
punishment.
Legitimizing Mohammed bin Salman
The Trump administration has not only given the crown prince a
pass on the Khashoggi killing, but it has also worked assiduously to remove his
pariah status and rehabilitate his global image. Barely two months after the
2018 slaying, Trump was exchanging pleasantries with the crown prince at the Group of 20 summit in
Buenos Aires and holding out prospects of spending more time with him. Then
this past June, at the G-20 in Osaka, Japan, Trump sang his praises while
dodging questions about the killing. "It's an honor to be with the crown
prince of Saudi Arabia, a friend of mine, a man who has really done things in
the last five years in terms of opening up Saudi Arabia," Trump said.
And you can bet that when Saudi
Arabia hosts the G-20, scheduled to be held in its capital of Riyadh in
November 2020, the Trump administration will be smiling as its rehab project
takes another step in its desired direction.
What the U.S. should have done
Trump has failed to impose any serious costs or constraints on
Saudi Arabia for the killing of a U.S. newspaper columnist who resided in
Virginia or for the kingdom's aggressive policies, from Yemen to Qatar. In the
wake of the Khashoggi killing, the administration should have made it
unmistakably clear, both publicly and privately, that it expected a
comprehensive and credible accounting and investigation. It should have suspended
high-level contacts and arms sales with the kingdom for a period of time. And
to make the point, the administration should have supported at least one
congressional resolution taking the Saudis to task, in addition to triggering
the Magnitsky Act, which would have required a U.S. investigation; a report to
Congress; and sanctions if warranted.
Back to business as usual
The dark stain of the crown prince's
apparent involvement in Khashoggi's death will not fade easily. But for Trump
and Pompeo, it pales before the great expectations they still maintain for the
kingdom to confront and contain their common enemy, Iran, as well as support
the White House's plan for Middle East peace, defeat jihadists in the region
and keep the oil spigot open.
Most of these goals are illusory.
Saudi Arabia is a weak, fearful and unreliable ally. The kingdom has introduced
significant social and cultural reforms but has imposed new levels of
repression and authoritarianism. Its reckless policies toward Yemen and Qatar
have expanded, not contracted, opportunities for Iran, while the Saudi military
has demonstrated that, even after spending billions to buy America's most
sophisticated weapons, it still can't defend itself without American help.
Meanwhile, recent attacks on
critical Saudi oil facilities that the U.S. blames on Iran have helped rally
more American and international support for the kingdom.
When it comes to the U.S.-Saudi
relationship and the kingdom's callous reaction to Khashoggi's killing, the
president and his secretary of state have been derelict in their duty: They
have not only failed to advance American strategic interests but also
undermined America's values in the process.
One year after Khashoggi murder, US CEOs flock to Saudi Arabia
Today marks one year since the savage assassination and dismemberment of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul.
The crime, characterized by its extreme brutality and utter brazenness, has yet to be fully investigated, while its principal authors, first and foremost Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, have gone unpunished.
Bin Salman used an interview with the CBS news program “60 Minutes” broadcast on Sunday as a vehicle for whitewashing his culpability in the assassination. He is anxious to clean up the Saudi monarchy’s sordid image as Riyadh prepares to welcome a flock of US banking and corporate CEOs to an event dubbed “Davos in the Desert” scheduled in a few weeks.
The crown prince denied that he had ordered the killing, but added, “I take full responsibility as a leader in Saudi Arabia, especially since it was committed by individuals working for the Saudi government.” He went on to dismiss the suggestion that the assassination had hurt Riyadh’s relations with Washington, insisting: “The relationship is much larger than that.”
Indeed, the relationship is “much larger.” Saudi Arabia has served as a historic lynchpin of reaction and US imperialist domination in the Arab world, under both Democratic and Republican administrations alike, for three-quarters of a century. It now functions as an ally of both the US and Israel in an anti-Iranian axis that is pushing the region toward a catastrophic war. It is also far and away the biggest purchaser of US arms, with Trump using his first trip abroad to fly to the kingdom and sign a weapons deal touted as worth $110 billion.
This special relationship is between Washington and what is unquestionably one of the most reactionary regimes on the face of the planet. An absolute monarchy based on the most reactionary strain of Islam, Wahhabism, the Saudi regime labels its critics as “terrorists” and punishes them with beheading. More than 130 such barbaric executions have taken place this year alone, including of children arrested for the “crimes” of supporting protests and posting material critical of the regime on social media. In some cases, the victims’ corpses have been crucified and their heads exhibited on pikes to intimidate the population.
Washington’s indifference to this savage repression—as well as its active support for the near genocidal four-year-old war in Yemen, whose death toll is expected to reach 233,000 by the end of this year, according to the UN—gives the lie to all of US imperialism’s attempts to promote its predatory interests under the filthy banner of “human rights.” It also explains why bin Salman believed he could act with impunity in murdering Khashoggi.
Thus far, no one has been punished for the killing of the journalist, a former insider who edited pro-regime newspapers and served at one point as an aide to the long-time Saudi intelligence chief and former ambassador to the US, Prince Turki bin Faisal. Khashoggi fled the kingdom in the midst of a so-called “anti-corruption” crackdown in 2017 in which prominent Saudi figures were abducted, imprisoned and tortured in a hotel and shaken down for money. Obtaining residence in the US, he was offered a column in the Washington Post to criticize bin Salman, largely from the standpoint of the interests of rival factions within the monarchy.
As is well known, Khashoggi was murdered after going into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to obtain divorce papers he needed to marry a Turkish woman. With the appointment set up well in advance, he was met by a 15-member death squad comprised of Saudi air force officers, intelligence operatives, leading members of the monarchy’s elite personal guard of the Saudi monarchy and a forensics expert, who came equipped with a bone saw.
In the run-up to the first anniversary of the assassination, two investigators who listened to tapes recorded on listening devices covertly placed in the consulate by Turkish intelligence have provided hideous new details about the crime.
Helena Kennedy, a British lawyer who participated in the UN investigation into the killing, recounted to the BBC’s “Panorama” news program broadcast Monday night that the assassins referred jokingly to Khashoggi as the “sacrificial animal.”
The Turkish bugs also recorded the Saudi forensics expert telling his cohorts, “I often play music when I’m cutting cadavers. Sometimes I have a coffee and a cigar at hand.”
He went on to complain: “It is the first time in my life that I’ve had to cut pieces on the ground—even if you are a butcher and want to cut, he hangs the animal up to do it.”
Kennedy also said that the tapes made clear that the man directing the operation was Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb, one of the most prominent members of bin Salman’s security detail.
The UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings who investigated the Khashoggi case, Agnes Callamard, states that the journalist, in terror, asked his abductors whether they were going to give him an injection, to which they say “yes.”
“The sound heard after that point indicates that he is being suffocated, probably with a plastic bag over his head,” she recounts. “His mouth was also closed—violently—maybe with a hand or something else.”
Afterwards, Kennedy states, the bugs recorded someone saying: “He’s a dog, put this on his head, wrap it, wrap it.” She added, “One can only assume that they had removed his head.”
No one has been punished for this grisly murder, and the Saudi authorities have never even revealed the fate of Khashoggi’s remains.
Only 11 of the 15 death squad members have been criminally charged in Saudi Arabia. Their protracted trial is being held in secret. Among those not charged is Said al-Qahtani, formerly bin Salman’s most influential adviser. The CIA has identified him as the ringleader in the killing, one of many carried out under his direction. It also established that he exchanged 11 messages with bin Salman immediately before and after the murder. Turkish intelligence has reported that al-Qahtani made a Skype call to the Istanbul consulate in order to insult Khashoggi and order his death squad to “bring me the head of the dog.”
The horrific character of this crime notwithstanding, one year after Khashoggi’s assassination, US banks and big business are prepared to put it behind them and grasp the bloody hand of bin Salman.
At least 40 US executives are preparing to attend the annual Future Investment Initiative (FII) conference, dubbed “Davos in the Desert,” at the end of this month. Many of them bailed out of last year’s event, held just weeks after Khashoggi’s killing, sending subordinates to represent them in order to avoid being seen as openly endorsing the murderous methods of the Saudi monarchy.
Casting such qualms aside this year, senior executives from Wall Street’s top financial firms—Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and BlackRock—are all listed as coming, according to a report Monday in the Washington Post .
BlackRock’s CEO Larry Fink told the Post that he believed “corporate engagement and public dialogue can help” the Saudi regime “evolve.”
Who does he think he is kidding? The only “evolution” that BlackRock is interested in is that of Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company, ARAMCO, into a privatized and publicly traded corporation out of which Wall Street can extract hefty new profits. The monarchy has indicated that an initial public offering (IPO) covering as much as 5 percent of the company could come in the next several months.
Also included on the list of those attending is Citigroup’s CEO Michael Corbat and JPMorgan’s head of global banking, Carlos Hernandez.
Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, is expected to lead a delegation of US officials.
In the immediate aftermath of the brutal murder of Khashoggi one year ago, the World Socialist Web Site warned that the assassination was: “emblematic of a sinister shift in world politics, in which such heinous crimes are becoming more and more common and accepted. It recalls the conditions that existed in the darkest days of the 1930s, when fascist and Stalinist death squads hunted down and murdered socialists and other opponents of Hitler and Stalin throughout Europe.”
The list of attendees at this year’s “Davos in the Desert” expresses not only the profit grubbing of America’s parasitic financial oligarchy, but also their acceptance and approval of such methods in dealing with opponents of existing governments and the capitalist order they defend. If Khashoggi’s high-level connections failed to protect him, clearly the threat to working class and socialist opponents of capitalism is all the greater.
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