Yonden Lhatoo reflects on the horror of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi’s killing and laments there will be no justice for him because of the vast influence the kingdom buys with oil money
“The horror, the horror,” are the last words of a morally and mentally depleted Colonel Kurtz, played to grotesque perfection by Marlon Brando, at the end of the seminal Vietnam war film, Apocalypse Now .
Evoking that same spirit of incredible savagery and inhumanity, our own modern-day descent into the heart of darkness is being played out for real in the horrific case of the missing Saudi journalist, Jamal Khashoggi.
A former fan of Saudi Arabia’s royal family who reinvented himself as a dissident and critic of the House of Saud while living in self-imposed exile in the US, where he wrote a monthly column for The Washington Post, Khashoggi was last seen entering the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul on October 2.
Grisly details of what they did to him in all probability, leaked by the Turkish government to the media, make for pretty ghastly reading.
Turkish authorities, citing gathered intelligence as well as audio and video recordings, allege that a 15-member hit squad from Saudi Arabia flew to Istanbul and took a bone saw into the consulate, where they tortured, dismembered and decapitated Khashoggi before secretly disposing of his remains.
According to sources quoted by Turkish media, he was dragged onto a table in the consul general’s study, where his killers proceeded to cold-bloodedly butcher Khashoggi while he was still alive.
Fingers are being pointed straight at Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman because, under his all-encompassing and iron-fisted rule, it would be inconceivable for any of his minions to dare carry out such a brazen act of barbarism on the global stage without his approval.
As expected, the Saudis have also found some scapegoats: five high-ranking officials have been sacked and 18 others detained. And they’ve bought more time to come up with an investigation report.
“MBS”, as the crown prince is trendily known, gets a mulligan, and although the man once hailed as a visionary reformer by the West is now being mocked with a new nickname – “Mister Bone Saw” – it will all blow over. Money always wins.
Real justice for Khashoggi? It was never going to happen, given how inextricably intertwined America’s strategic and economic interests are with the House of Saud. In Trump’s own words, “It’s bad, bad stuff. But we’ll see what happens.”
The horror, the horror.
Yonden Lhatoo is the chief news editor at the Post
