Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/10/19/saudi-prosecutor-jamal-khasho.html
…
Saudis confirm Jamal Khashoggi's death; top military official dismissed, 18 Saudis detained in probe
8 Likes
I have full confidence that the KSA investigation will get to the bottom of this, and stray nowhere near the top.
30 Likes
Of the 18, how many were the ones who flew in at 3am on a private charter?
6 Likes
They announce this at 1 a.m. their time so it hits US news during prime news time on a Friday? I’m not skeptical at all.
12 Likes
If he died as a result of a fist-fight, produce the body. I’m sure it doesn’t show signs of methodical torture and dismemberment.
18 Likes
This ridiculous story is a simple and clear message to the free press from the Saudis not to mess with the Saudis. This is terrorism.
Also, I wonder if Jamal Khashoggi was on that enemies list that Jared Kushner gave to prince Mohammed bin Salman during one of his many visits.
‘Jared took a list out of names from US eavesdrops of people who were supposedly MBS’s enemies,’ said one source, characterizing how MBS spoke about the information.
'He took a list out of these people who had been trashing MBS in phone calls, and said ‘these are the ones who are your enemies’.
29 Likes
I mean if one were rounded up by a Saudi death squad, and the alternative is certain torture and death, one might start a fist fight. Even with 18 dudes. Might as well give it a shot. But that’s a hell of a spin. Like pushing someone off a skyscraper and blaming their poor flying skills.
31 Likes
That’s just what happens when you bring a fist to a bone saw fight.
22 Likes
Perhaps they can hire expert “find the real killers” investigator OJ Simpson? I believe he is available…
3 Likes
100% Trump-approved story!
10 Likes
Ground assault? 
5 Likes
Gentlemen, let the scape-goating begin! (I wonder how eager anyone will be to follow the prince’s orders in the future if they know that may result in being fired/jailed/killed - there was one mysterious death already among the hit-team.)
Yeah, though it seems like, from what I’ve read about the recordings made, that this was a “fight” in the sense of “he hit their fists with his face.”
It really is a hell of a spin. “He got in a fight with the people specifically sent there to assassinate him” is a damned weird defense.
16 Likes
And about as believable as all the changing excuses that submarine guy kept giving about the reporter who went missing on his boat, like “she died accidentally”, and then “I buried her at sea, er, what, you found the body, all of it? Er, I mean I dismembered her body with tools I just happened to have on hand and sent them individually weighted into the sea” as one does when someone dies of an accident…
9 Likes
16 Likes
So now the assassins will have a new job description, “scapegoat”, and they’ll be executed for doing what they were ordered to do. I’m sure the Saudis have other assassins on call, I wonder what’s going through their minds now.
4 Likes
Perhaps they’ll outsource the job next time.
6 Likes
Is anybody the least bit surprised? The Saudis and Trump have been building this up for days: express outrage, throw somebody important under the bus, move along now, there’s nothing to see here (Since Il Duce conjured up a comparison to Kavanaugh, I’ll point out the obvious similarity in the thoroughness of both investigations.
4 Likes
Phew!
I thought something terrible had happened, but this makes perfect sense - it took only 15 days, a redecorated embassy, an ambassadorial recall and a whole lot of lobbying to come up with a solution that will guarantee the continued flow of Lockheed Martin and BAE air-to-schoolbus missiles.
16 Likes
“Look, X died totally accidentally after we went there with the explicit intent to kill X. Total accident, that we were forced to clean up with the bone saw we brought! Then, of course, we had to destroy/remodel the scene and lie about it, because, again, we’re so innocent in all this.”
Yes. Such a good defense. I expect it’s going to get a lot of use as long as Trump is in office, too.
Now that we’ve had, apparently, at least one unofficial execution of the team that did this, I wonder how many beheadings we’re going to see - and how many of them will be of people who were even involved. If people are afraid to even mildly oppose the ruler, but also afraid to do the ruler’s bidding, for fear of being killed in both circumstances, it really creates some Stalinist-style dysfunction in the state.
I suspect for these kinds of last-minute jobs, you really need to go with the in-house team.
4 Likes
I bet the Salmans are going to make MbS’s henchmen take the fall and claim they were indeed rogue killers. One or more will be beheaded, Trump will go along with it and everyone will continue on with their lives.
1 Like
