Will Journalist’s Murder Hurt US-Saudi Relations?

FEATURING MEDEA BENJAMIN – President Donald Trump on Monday said on Twitter that he was planning to send Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Saudi Arabia ‘immediately’ over the increasing controversy over the death of Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi. Khashoggi was a vocal critic of the Gulf Arab monarchy and was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. There is strong evidence that Saudi Arabia, and in particular Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was behind Khashoggi’s killing.

Trump was asked about the Khashoggi killing in an interview on PBS’s 60 Minutes over the weekend and said although there would be “severe punishment” if Saudi Arabia was found to be behind the killing, he would not stop arms sales. Saudi Arabia is the US’s top weapons importer and in recent years, used those weapons relentlessly against Yemen.

Medea Benjamin, Co-founder of human rights group Global Exchange and the peace organization CODEPINK. She is a long-time political activist who has also written a number of books including Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of the Unjust, Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control and Inside Iran: The Real History and Politics of the Islamic Republic of Iran.