Jamal Khashoggi Wasn’t Just Another Journalist
One of the current trending headlines is the recent death of Saudi Arabian journalist, Jamal Khashoggi (Kaşıkçı). As the story goes, Mr. Khashoggi entered the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul on October 2nd to get paperwork that would allow him to marry Hatice Cengiz, a 36-year-old Ph.D. candidate at a university in Istanbul. As the Saudi government has finally admitted, Mr. Khashoggi was killed inside the consulate.
While focus remains on the gory details of apparent governmental brutality against a an outspoken journalist, the mainstream media, at least the English-speaking mainstream media, really hasn’t said much else about who Jamal Khashoggi was. A deeper look shows that Jamal Khashoggi wasn’t just another outspoken journalist.
Jamal Khashoggi is Cemal Kaşıkçı is . . .
First of all, I don’t know exactly why this is happening in the English translation of this man’s name, but his name is actually “Cemal Kaşıkçı”. How on Earth western media and governments have turned that into “Jamal Khashoggi” is beyond me. But, then again, there’s a country named “Deutschland” that we refer to as “Germany”, as well.
But the reason I bring this name thing up is because I distinctly remember that last name, Kaşıkçı, and it somehow getting translated into “Khashoggi” from a previous episode of international scandal. More on that below, but to avoid confusion I’m going to leave things with “Jamal Khashoggi” through the rest of this article to avoid any confusion.
The name Khashoggi came up back in the 1980s during the Iran-Contra scandal under the Reagan Administration. Iran-Contra was about a secret arms deal whereby the Reagan Administration back-channeled weapons to Iran in order to free some Americans held hostage by terrorists in Lebanon. The secret deal was in violation of US embargo with Iran. The man who facilitated the arms transfer on behalf of the US government was billionaire Saudi businessman, Adnan Khashoggi (Adnan Kaşıkçı).
Adnan was Jamal Khashoggi’s uncle. Adnan was also the son of Mohammed Khashoggi, personal physician to the first king of Saudi Arabia, Abdul Aziz Al Saud. Adnan’s sister, Jamal’s aunt Soheir Khashoggi, was the mother of Dodi Fayed, who was Princess Diana’s lover that died with her in a Paris car crash in 1997. Jamal’s uncle Adnan Khashoggi died at age 81 in June, 2017, just a few months before Jamal fled into self-imposed exile from Saudi Arabia.
An outspoken insider and critic
While Jamal Khashoggi was not a member of the Saudi royal family, he was definitely in the their orbit. In other words, he was an insider among the circles of power and money in Saudi Arabia. As is well known by now, Mr. Khashoggi also openly criticized the Saudi government and its Wahhabist policies for being oppressive. Saudi Arabia’s atrocious human rights record is no secret, either.
A little bad press and some ruffled feathers in Washington, DC, is likely of little concern to the Saudi royals when silencing such a heretic. Considering the influence Saudi Arabia has in Washington, the current indignation expressed by American politicians will likely blow over in short order with little long-term effect. The fact that Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo (pictured above) flew all the way to Riyadh for a fifteen minute audience with the Saudi King speaks volumes as to who is calling the shots in US-Saudi relations.
But having voluntarily fled into exile, does it make sense that Jamal Khashoggi would have voluntarily entered a Saudi consulate, which is technically Saudi territory, and put himself at the mercy of the Saudi authorities just to make his upcoming marriage official in the country he fled?
The Political New Report was created in the interests of informing the public and we need your help. Please share this article and website on social media, and also like and subscribe so other like-minded people can find this content.
Resource Links:
- Jamal Khashoggi page at Wikipedia [accessed October 21, 2018], Wikipedia.org
- Why did Saudi Arabia want to silence Jamal Khashoggi?, PBS.org, October 19, 2018
- Pompeo Took 12-Hour Flight To Saudi Arabia For ’15 Minute Meeting’ With King Salman, ZeroHedge, October 16, 2018
- Secretary Pompeo Meets With King Salman image credit State Department photo by Ron Przysucha/Public Domain
