Posted on 11/23/2018 3:28:53 PM PST by Kaslin
Just when you thought the story of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi embassy in Turkey couldn’t get any stranger, Turkish media adds a new wrinkle. It’s being claimed by a columnist for the newspaper Hurriyet that the CIA has a recording of Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman ordering Khashoggi to be “silenced” prior to the killing. No sources are named in the story and nobody else is confirming it, but it’s stirring up all the actors involved in this tale. (Reuters)
A Turkish newspaper reported on Thursday CIA director Gina Haspel signaled to Turkish officials last month that the agency had a recording of a call in which Saudi Arabia’s crown prince gave instructions to “silence” Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Asked about the report, a Turkish official told Reuters he had no information about such a recording. Saudi Arabia has said Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had no prior knowledge of Khashoggi’s killing at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul six weeks ago.
The CIA declined to comment when asked about the report.
“There is talk of another recording,” Hurriyet newspaper journalist Abdulkadir Selvi wrote in a column, saying the purported call took place between Prince Mohammed and his brother, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Washington.
There are plenty of reasons to be skeptical about this report, though such a thing is certainly possible. Nobody from the White House, the CIA, the Saudi government or even the Turkish government is offering a comment on it. (Of course, the fact that nobody is denying it either might fuel some suspicions.) The columnist who published the article, Abdulkadir Selvi, offers generalities, repeatedly writing “it is being said…” without mentioning who was doing the talking. And if we were actually listening to the Crown Prince’s phone calls, do you think the head of the CIA would confirm that to Turkey?
Also worth noting is the fact that the newspaper is hardly independent. It’s only in operation because it’s a mouthpiece for Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He’s not only antagonistic toward Saudi Arabia but is rather peeved at Washington these days over our refusal to extradite Fethullah Gulen. It’s not unreasonable to suspect that Turkey might plant a story like this just to cause more mischief between the United States and Saudi Arabia.
But as I said, it could be legitimate. That possibility raises some thorny issues. For one thing, it would offer confirmation that we’re tapping the phones of the Saudi ambassador in Washington. (I wouldn’t exactly faint from shock if that turned out to be true, but it would be embarrassing.) It would also put more pressure on President Trump to do something more forceful in terms of condemning and/or punishing Salman for ordering the hit. He’s unlikely to agree, as we’ve already seen, but it would stir up more trouble between our countries. (Something that wouldn’t upset Turkey one bit.)
This entire story is already so strange that we can’t rule out anything at this point. But for the time being, I’ll wait until we at least get some sort of confirmation from one of the key players before we take this as fact.
So what?
Send MBS Acosta’s contact information.
” a Turkish official told Reuters he had no information about such a recording. “
Someone is just making things up about a recording, that doesn’t really exist, just to cause trouble for Saudi Arabia.
The CIA?
SNORT.
MBS could come out tomorrow, hold a press conference and admit to killing Khashoggi himself with his bare hands simply because Khashoggi was a pain in his ass and I still wouldn’t care about this story.
The CIA has secret information that is concealed by a foreign government? Since when?
Of course they are and of course Reuters is passing along the made up story as true also. If the CIA actually had something they would have turned it over to our news organizations by the pressure Trump faction.
If it wasn’t for fake news there would be little news at all except maybe for (horrors) good news.
I also care nothing at all about what the corrupt CIA determines. They still claim President Trump colluded with Russia. The CIA should be shattered into a thousand pieces.
Who cares? One less Muslim Botherhood on the earth.
Plus gas prices are down. I care more about that.
So what?
There are no true allies in the Middle East other than Israel.
All others are truly enemies or “friends of convenience” and that convenience being the larger security issues in the region.
Iran is a larger security issue in U.S. terms than is Saudi Arabia. Were the Mullahs to fall from power in Tehran in favor of a truly democratic government that stuck the Mullahs into the sidelines, as the Shah did, then what was most convenient for the U.S. could change.
Meanwhile, maybe, the Saudis, if they are really secure, may just modernize and Liberalize after all. The one thing the Saudis will not do is Liberalize allowing a political role for the MB. They - the MB, will remain an existential threat - vying for popular support - with ANY Saudi government; autocratic, democratic or anything in between.
I don’t care if MBS killed him personally. We don’t base our foreign relations on “human rights,” not since Jesus Carter.
Apparently the CIA works for the Democrat Media now.
We might want to know why, however.
Especially if the answer to that question leads to someone other than MBS.
It’s being claimed by a columnist for the newspaper Hurriyet that the CIA has a recording of Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman ordering Khashoggi to be “silenced” prior to the killing. No sources are named in the story and nobody else is confirming it, but it’s stirring up all the actors involved in this tale. (Reuters)
The Turks lied about the dead jihadist's Apple Watch, and never produced the recording, because it didn't exist. The Demagogic Party set the new low standard when the fiascoed their way through the Brett Kavanaugh smearings.
I hope the guy did order the hit.
More proof that this new leader is really working to clear the jihadiscum out of Saudi Arabia.
My question is to the msm. Why you so hot about a dead enemy?
The key to all this folderol is the statement, “Turkish media adds a new wrinkle.” Turkish media is completely under the thumb of Erdogan. All opposition has been silenced. Thus, the fact that the “wrinkle” is pure propaganda must be considered. Because the CIA leaks like a sieve, the statement that it reportedly has a “smoking gun” on Salman should have been trumpeted and then orchestrated long before this. Finally, that the Democrats have not demanded , in chorus, that Haspel provide the evidence that proves Salman’s culpability, indicates that they have no stomach for what might prove to be a trap. A Middle East tar baby just sits there waiting.
Couldn’t. Care. Less.
What is the Clinton Crime Family’s real body count - not the list of sensational claims, but the actual number? I suspect they are way ahead of Teddy Kennedy, a man that Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman is alleged to have finally caught up with. Let’s tone down the sympathy for this dead Muslim Brotherhood terrorist supporter and pay attention to what matters - America’s national interests. On that count, we’re better off continuing to side with our (weak and untrustworthy) Saudi allies than we would be turning them into open enemies.
So what?
Its a family fued - muslims killing a muslim supporter of the muslim brotherhood.
I want the CIA to release the “Smoking Gun” information on the murders of Vince Foster, Ron Brown, Seth Rich and Justice Antonin Scalia.
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