The murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi becomes more brutal and horrific every day. Since killing Khashoggi, Riyadh has engaged in a transparent and offensive attempt to cover up the crime. The question is how far other governments will go in the pursuit of a "realist" foreign policy, overlooking a crime to protect so-called national interests. The Saudi government may be called to some — but not much — account.
Khashoggi was a long-time vocal critic of the Saudi government. As a contributing columnist for The Washington Post, he had a commanding position to level comments against Riyadh and it had attempted to co-opt or silence him, through inducements and intimidation. The plot to kill him was set in motion Sept. 28 when Khashoggi visited the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul to obtain documents so he could marry. He returned, as directed, on Oct. 2 for the paperwork. Unbeknownst to him, the day before a team of 18 agents had reportedly been dispatched to Turkey to murder him and dispose of the body. He went to the consulate with his fiance, told her to wait outside and walked in to his death.
Initially, the Saudis claimed that he left the consulate although there was no video of his departure — despite pictures of him entering. Allegedly, consulate video cameras were not working and their hard discs removed. When that story became implausible, the Saudi government conceded that Khashoggi had been killed, but as a result of a fist fight. Then it claimed he died because of a choke hold. Throughout the revisions, the Saudi government insisted that the death was an accident, "a rogue operation" about which the country's highest levels of leadership were not informed.