His death is key to understanding the political forces that helped turn
the Middle East from a region of hope seven years ago to one of brutal
repression and slaughter today.
By Christopher Dickey
PARIS — The mind plays strange tricks sometimes, especially after a
tragedy. When I sat down to write this story about the Saudi regime’s
homicidal obsession with the Muslim Brotherhood, the first person I
thought I’d call was Jamal Khashoggi. For more than 20 years I phoned
him or met with him, even smoked the occasional water pipe with him, as I
looked for a better understanding of his country, its people, its
leaders, and the Middle East. We often disagreed, but he almost always
gave me fresh insights into the major figures of the region, starting
with Osama bin Laden in the 1990s, and the political trends, especially
the explosion of hope that was called the Arab Spring in
2011. He would be just the man to talk to about the Saudis and the
Muslim Brotherhood, because he knew both sides of that bitter
relationship so well.
And then, of course, I realized that Jamal is dead, murdered precisely because he knew too much.
Although
the stories keep changing, there is now no doubt that 33-year-old Saudi
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the power in front of his decrepit
father’s throne, had put out word to his minions that he wanted
Khashoggi silenced, and the hit-team allegedly understood that as “wanted dead or alive.”
But the [petro]buck stops with MBS, as bin Salman’s called. He’s
responsible for a gruesome murder just as Henry II was responsible for
the murder of Thomas Becket when he said, “Who will rid me of that
meddlesome priest?” In this case, a meddlesome journalist.
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Source: The Daily Beast
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