In his new book, published yesterday, former Trump Secretary of State Mike Pompeo brings up Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post columnist, who was brutally murdered and then dismembered by the Saudis – an action believed to have been under the direction of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The horrific event galvanized the U.S. in outrage, so it’s understandable that Pompeo would address it in discussing his time in office. What’s utterly inexplicable though is that Pompeo chose to attack, not the Crown Prince or the Saudi killers, but Jamal Khashoggi, who (to repeat) had been brutally murdered and dismembered. That seems weird and reprehensible even by Trump administration standards. Pompeo, for reasons known only to him in his fantasy quest to become U.S. President, writes about Mr. Khasghoggi that “we need to be clear about who he was -- and too many in the media were not.” And from that, Pompeo goes on to refer to the career journalist instead as solely an “activist,” while additionally making ham-fisted suggestions that try to hint at supposed, tangential connections to the world Khashoggi wrote about, yet without any specifics to support what he wants you to believe, which is the very opposite of “a need to be clear.” Though, in fairness, what you might expect from a former CIA director used to obfuscation. Even more deplorable is that Pompeo not only tries to redefine who he wants you to believe Jamal Khashoggi is, taking victim-shaming to a new low, but he wants to eradicate who the journalist was and make you think he wasn't even a journalist, suggesting instead that Khashoggi (who wrote for the Washington Post) was not "a Saudi Arabian Bob Woodward martyred for bravely criticizing the Saudi royal family through his opinion articles in the Washington Post." Never mind that Mohammed bin Salman was so angry at Khashoggi's work that he told an aide -- in a conversation intercepted by intelligence sources -- that he would go after Khashoggi "with a bullet." (Which by most standards, when you're brutally murdered and dismembered, qualifies as being martyred for bravely criticizing the Saudi royal family.) But going even further, what Pompeo bizarrely tries to say even more is that Mr. Khashoggi was a journalist only “to the extent that I, and many other public figures are journalists. We sometimes get our writing published, but we also do other things.” Mike Pompeo is a journalist the same way that Kermit the Frog is an actual, real-life amphibian. Since Pompeo says he has a burning “need to be clear” in reprehensibly demeaning a man who was brutally murdered and dismembered, let’s take a moment to point out that Jamal Khashoggi was a career journalist for 33 years. He began as a correspondent for the Saudi Gazette in 1985, and then worked for a variety of Arab newspapers from 1987 to 1990, including Asharq Al-Awsat, Al Majalla and Al Muslimoon. In 1991, he became managing editor of Al Madina where he worked for eight years, later becoming acting editor-in-chief – while at the same time working as a foreign correspondent. He then was hired as deputy editor-in-chief of Arab News. And eventually, as his journalistic career progressed, he moved to the United States, where he become a legal U.S. resident, and in 2017 was hired to be a columnist for the Washington Post. (Where Bob Woodward also works as an associate editor.) It's like Mike Pompeo wants to do to Jamal Khashoggi's legacy almost the same as what the Saudis did to his body. So, yeah, to serve his face-saving purposes, Mike Pompeo wants you to believe that Jamal Khashoggi only “sometimes” got his writing published. In reality, Jamal Khashoggi got his writing published “sometimes” only if you define “sometimes” as “Not every day of his life.” And Mike Pompeo wants to make you think he himself and Jamal Khashoggi were exactly the same in their writing careers by flim-flamming inattentive readers with the overly-generous, disingenuous use of the words “we” and “our.” But don’t take my word for it. Here is what Washington Post publisher and CEO Fred Ryan wrote yesterday in blunt and scathing response to Pompeo about journalist Kamal Khashoggi who was under contract to write for Ryan’s Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper as a journalist -- "It is shocking and disappointing to see Mike Pompeo's book so outrageously misrepresent the life and work of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. As the CIA — which Pompeo once directed — concluded, Jamal was brutally murdered on the orders of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman. His only offense was exposing corruption and oppression among those in power -- work that good journalists around the world do every day. Jamal dedicated himself to the values of free speech and a free press and held himself to the highest professional standards. For this devotion, he paid the ultimate price. It is shameful that Pompeo would spread vile falsehoods to dishonor a courageous man's life and service — and his commitment to principles Americans hold dear — as a ploy to sell books." For utterly inexplicable reason, in trying to undermine a man brutally murdered and dismembered (something that can’t be repeated enough), former Trump official Mike Pompeo wants to wipe out from existence Jamal Khashoggi’s long and involved career as nothing more than an “activist.” So, again, in the “need to be clear,” what Jamal Khashoggi was…was a legal U.S. resident, with a wife, living in the United States. Who worked for an American newspaper as a journalist, a profession protected in the Constitution by the First Amendment. A man who was brutally murdered and dismembered. Because he spoke out against a repressive, savage regime. Which raises the question, bending over backwards to be fair to Mike Pompeo, a concept he doesn’t employ, so what if Jamal Khashoggi also was -- or wasn't -- an activist fighting horrific repression, in addition to being a career journalist who worked for a U.S. paper??!! By the way, also in the need to be clear, taking Mike Pompeo’s word about anything is never a sure thing to do. After all, this is the guy who signed over Afghanistan to one of the co-founders of the Taliban, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who the Trump administration helped get out of prison – and then took a cool photo together to commemorate the event. Not that one should draw any false connections to terrorists from that, even if Pompeo himself might do such a thing if it was others. Why in the world Mike Pompeo oddly wants to denigrate activists is another question his efforts raise. After all, Martin Luther King, Jr. was an activist. So was Rosa Parks. And Gandhi. Rep. John Lewis was an activist. And Harriet Tubman. Margaret Sanger. Nelson Mandela. Cesar Chavez. Greta Thunberg. Nobel Prize-winner Malala Yousafzai. And Nobel Prize-winner Desmond Tutu. President Theodore Roosevelt was an activist and also won the Nobel Prize. President Barack Obama, too (including the Nobel Prize). Elijah Cummings. Alexei Navlny. Bob Geldof. Upton Sinclair was an activist – and a writer. Maya Angelou was an activist – and a writer. Elie Wiesel was an activist – and a writer, and won the Nobel Prize. All of whom (and so many others) worked to make society a better place. But Mike Pompeo wants you to think activism is a bad thing. Whether it’s your full-time endeavor or something you do as part of your life. It must be noted that he does also write about legal U.S. resident Jamal Khashoggi, a career journalist and activist, who was brutally murdered and dismembered, that “ It is just utterly bewildering that Mike Pompeo made a conscious decision in his book to go off in this direction about U.S. resident Jamal Khashoggi, a journalist who was brutally murdered and dismembered. That he also notes about Mr. Khashoggi, oh, by the way, "he didn't deserve to die" is so woke of Pompeo. "He didn't deserve to die." Nice attempt at a save, as they say. It’s hard to imagine what possessed Mike Pompeo to address the brutal murder of a U.S. resident and journalist in the preposterous, contemptible way he did in his book. One can come up with all manner of disreputable explanations, though they’re nothing more than guesses – and for all we know, might not go far enough. Desperately trying to cover his butt as part of a deplorable Trump administration response as he hopes in his fantasy world to dream of becoming president is probably the most polite explanation available. Covering the butt of Trump's many dealings with the Saudis (including the current LIV golf tour) and Jared Kushner getting $2 billion from them is another matter, as well. Finally, it’s at this point, I have an unexpected addendum to this all. I had been planning to write this article the moment I saw the story about Pompeo’s strange attack on Jamal Khashoggi. In fact, I initially posted a tweet about it. Then, a half-hour latter, I noticed that I got a reply. It was from Ms. Hanan Elatr Khashoggi. My first reaction was that “Not acceptable" is the polite term.
2 Comments
Drey Samuelson
1/25/2023 11:31:46 am
Great and well-deserved takedown of Mike Pompeo and his despicable attack on Jamal Kashoggi. The fact that this asshole was, for a time, one of the leaders of our country is dispiriting...
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Robert Elisberg
1/26/2023 09:20:54 am
Drey, thanks much. And further, Pompeo wants to be president. It's almost as much a fantasy dream as Mike Pence's, but it's still there...
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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