WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense counterpart Jim Mattis stood strong in their defence of continued close ties between the United States and Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.
The two senior Cabinet officials claim that there is no hard evidence that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was behind the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, but some lawmakers are finding that difficult to believe.
Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon on Wednesday that “we have no smoking gun the crown prince was involved, not the intelligence community or anyone else”, appearing to contradict a report on Nov. 17 from the Central Intelligence Agency that pinned the blame on Prince MBS.
Despite the stance of the administration, the U.S. Senate voted to advance a resolution to end U.S. military support for the Saudi Arabia-led coalition fighting Houthis in Yemen, with a final vote potentially taking place within days.
In a move that solidified Republican Party unrest around President Donald Trump’s dismissive response to the Saudi murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the Yemen humanitarian crisis, many Republicans joined Democrats to advance the measure by a vote of 63 over 37.
It followed a Senate briefing by Pompeo and Mattis behind closed doors about Saudi Arabia, the Oct. 2 murder of Khashoggi and the war in Yemen.
The focus for senators has been on the Khashoggi death and what lawmakers have called inaction on the behalf of the U.S. government.
The argument offered by the pair echoed Trump, with Mattis and Pompeo saying that any response including economic sanctions would hurt a vital trade and military ally.
Several senators, including top Republican Lindsey Graham, were also disappointed that Gina Haspel was not part of the Senate briefing on Wednesday, but her attendance would have offered what appears to be opposing views.
Its not the first time the Trump administration has gone against the findings of the intelligence community, with Democrat Sen. Bob Menendez calling her absence a “cover-up”.
Head of the powerful foreign relations committee, Republican Sen. Bob Corker, acknowledged Saudi Arabia as an ally and “semi-important country”, but added: “We also have a crown prince that’s out of control.”
The Senate’s rebuke of the Mattis-Pompeo briefing comes just a day ahead of the G20 economic summit where Trump will be meeting leaders of international economic powers in Argentina’s Buenos Aires.
The U.S. president is not the only leader looking to protect its strong economic ties with Saudi Arabia.
A diplomatic spat caused by a Canadian embassy tweet regarding the Saudi human rights record caused over 7,000 Saudi students to be recalled from Canada in an economic loss recorded at $1.2 billion, and possibly more, as they canceled all future commercial ties.
However, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has not cancelled a multi-billion dollar arms contract that has Saudi Arabia purchasing armoured vehicles for its military from a manufacturer in London, Ont., seen as a booster for the local economy.
Despite this, the Canadian government has condemned the murder of Washington Post journalist Khashoggi and will have joined other Western leaders such as the German chancellor and the French president in condemning the actions as anti-democratic and a suppression of the free press.
Trudeau, along with other leaders, will face the crown prince at the G20 summit in what could likely be an awkward exchange, and some analysts say Trump could be sidelined at the summit after his administration effectively absolved bin Salman in the murder despite the findings of the CIA.
(c)2018 Breaking911 – Eli Ridder
