{"id":55496,"date":"2021-02-26T21:22:10","date_gmt":"2021-02-26T21:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/?p=346797"},"modified":"2021-02-26T21:22:10","modified_gmt":"2021-02-26T21:22:10","slug":"biden-balks-at-sanctions-on-saudi-crown-prince-after-release-of-report-on-killing-of-jamal-khashoggi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/02\/26\/biden-balks-at-sanctions-on-saudi-crown-prince-after-release-of-report-on-killing-of-jamal-khashoggi\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden Balks at Sanctions on Saudi Crown Prince After Release of Report on Killing of Jamal Khashoggi"},"content":{"rendered":"
The Biden administration<\/u>\u00a0released a long-awaited intelligence report Friday that\u00a0said\u00a0Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman had approved the 2018 operation that killed dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul. But instead of\u00a0punishing MBS, the Biden administration announced sanctions on a top intelligence official and on the crown prince\u2019s protective detail, known as the \u201cRapid Intervention Force.\u201d<\/p>\n
The move, which included\u00a0visa restrictions<\/a> against 76 Saudi nationals who \u201chave been engaged in threatening dissidents overseas,\u201d is a sign that the Biden administration wants to maintain a cooperative partnership with Saudi leadership. But it will likely anger human rights activists and members of Congress who have argued that the crown prince should be held personally accountable for the operation that led to a Saudi journalist\u00a0\u2014 who was also a\u00a0U.S. resident \u2014 being\u00a0killed and butchered\u00a0in a Saudi consulate in Turkey.<\/p>\n On Thursday, President Joe Biden called Saudi King Salman, and a readout<\/a> of the call from the White House said Biden emphasized that \u201che would work to make the bilateral relationship as strong and transparent as possible.\u201d Last week, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin called MBS, who is also the country\u2019s defense minister. The readout<\/a> of that call did not mention Khashoggi but said Austin \u201cunderscored Saudi Arabia\u2019s role as a pillar of the regional security architecture in the Middle East.\u201d<\/p>\n The New York Times reported<\/a> on Friday that \u201ca consensus developed inside the White House that the price of that breach, in Saudi cooperation on counterterrorism and in confronting Iran, was simply too high.\u201d But during his presidential campaign, Biden took a harsher line: When asked by Andrea Mitchell in a November 2019 primary debate<\/a> how he would hold Saudi officials accountable for Khashoggi\u2019s killing, he said, \u201cI would make it very clear we were not going to sell more weapons to them, we were going to make them pay the price and make them the pariah that they are. There’s very little social redeeming value of the \u2014 in the present government in Saudi Arabia.\u201d<\/p>\n The four-page intelligence report<\/a>\u00a0that was released on Friday contains few details about the grisly killing but lays blame firmly at the feet of MBS. \u201cWe base this assessment on the Crown Prince’s control of decision-making in the Kingdom, the direct involvement of a key adviser and members of Muhammad bin Salman’s protective detail in the operation, and the Crown Prince’s support for using violent measures to silence dissidents abroad, including Khashoggi,\u201d the report says. It added that MBS had \u201cabsolute control of the Kingdom\u2019s security and intelligence organizations\u201d and that he had likely created a culture of fear within the country\u2019s security establishment.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the time of the Khashoggi murder, the Crown Prince probably fostered an environment in which aides were afraid that failure to complete assigned tasks might result in him firing or arresting them,\u201d the report says. \u201cThis suggests that the aides were unlikely to question Muhammad bin Salman’s orders or undertake sensitive actions without his consent.\u201d<\/p>\n The Biden administration, rather than taking direct against against MBS, instead announced sanctions<\/a> on Gen. Ahmed al-Asiri, the former deputy head of Saudi Arabia\u2019s intelligence service, as well as the Rapid Intervention Force, several members of\u00a0which were part of the team that killed Khashoggi. Al-Asiri is a close ally of the crown prince, but the New York Times reported<\/a> shortly after Khashoggi\u2019s death in 2018 that Saudi leadership was developing a plan to blame the killing on him.<\/p>\n