Complicity: US Must Stop Supporting Saudi Narrative on Khashoggi Murder

TEHRAN (FNA)- Facing pressure to act against the Saudis over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, but also clearly not wanting to imperil US arms sales to Saudi Arabia, the Trump administration has announced sanctions on 17 Saudis over the grisly murder.

It’s a way to keep everything in line with the oft-changing Saudi narratives, and their consistent theme that the crown prince MBS was wholly blameless.

Meaning, the US won’t sanction the despotic regime. Indeed, all 17 people they did sanction are people that the Saudis had already singled out as being targets of their own token investigation. The US used almost that entire Saudi investigation list, except for military generals, as their own list of sanctions targets.

Now US Treasury officials claim they did “achieve justice” for Khashoggi’s family, which is far from the truth. They just want to sell the idea that they did something, without doing anything at all that might risk juicy US arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

Here, the rules of Global Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) which became International Law in 2014 are simple: If a country knows that the arms about to be sold will be used for genocide, crimes against humanity, or war crimes, then they must stop the transfer.

The ATT also means that every state that has signed up must obey strict rules on international arms transfers. This will at least help to stem the flow of weapons that fuel bloody conflicts, atrocities and state repression around its own citizens and the world, particularly in the Middle East.

Unfortunately, by ignoring the grisly murder of Khashoggi by the Saudi regime, the United States “knowingly” and “deliberately” has refused to adhere to the Arms Trade Treaty, reflect the rules of the treaty, or implement those laws as regards its Saudi vassals.

So far, the policy has had terrible results. The regime had had a free hand to murder its own citizens and critics almost everywhere, while thousands of people have also been killed, injured or forced to flee their homes because of the US-backed, Saudi-led violence and atrocities in places like Syria and Yemen. The majority of casualties are civilians, mainly women and children. What's more, US-made weapons such as missiles and bombs continue to destroy vital civilian infrastructure, pushing survivors into absolute poverty and despair.

On that basis, the US government is in breach of the Arms Trade Treaty for allowing the export of American-made missiles and military equipment to Saudi Arabia that have been used to kill civilians. The accusation comes from international lawyers, human rights groups and the United Nations as well. They are all expressing concerns about Saudi-led coalition attacks, accusing the US government of failing in its legal duty to take steps to prevent and suppress violations of International Law and International Humanitarian Law. They further accuse Saudi Arabia of hiding the evidence and perverting the course of justice over Khashoggi’s murder at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2. 

By now it should readily be evident that it is American weapons and complicity that have been central to Saudi Arabia’s criminal behavior in the region. President Donald Trump  and his administration have been complicit in this criminality, by continuing to support the Saudis and endorse their fake investigation, despite international concerns as well as strong and increasing evidence that Khashoggi was killed under a direct order by Mohamed Bin Salman.

Under these circumstances, the US government will have to look elsewhere in legally justifying its arming of Saudi Arabia and its diplomatic support at the UN. Until that happens, as per the global Arms Trade Treaty, Washington must end its arms exports to the Saudis or further share responsibility for Saudi war crimes and the crime committed against Khashoggi.