Newspaper urges 'other Americans' to act on Khashoggi

By Servet Gunerigok

WASHINGTON (AA) – Congress and the business and nonprofit worlds are obligated to defend America’s fundamental values following U.S. President Donald Trump's "craven abdication" in the case of Jamal Khashoggi's murder, The Washington Post said Tuesday.

"They must insist that the truth about this state-sponsored murder be revealed and that its authors — who the CIA believes include Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — be held accountable," the Post's editorial board said in an article.

"A failure to do so would cause profound damage to vital U.S. interests, including the long-term relationship with Saudi Arabia," said the board.

Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and columnist for The Washington Post, went missing after entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.

After initially saying he had left the consulate alive, Saudi Arabia admitted weeks later that he was killed there.

Bin Salman is under fire for his alleged role in the murder.

The board also urged U.S. businesses, universities, think tanks and lobbying firms that have done business with Saudi Arabia to reconsider their ties with the Kingdom.

It said if Trump had acted in the U.S. interest by imposing "meaningful consequences" on the Saudi crown prince and his regime, he could have cleared the way for a gradual rebuilding of normal relations.

"His failure to do so means business as usual cannot resume," the board wrote.

The Post said as long as he dodges accountability for the killing, bin Salman should be treated "as a pariah by all those who value human rights and the rule of law".

"His initiatives should be shunned, and statesmen from the democratic world should not meet with him," it said.

The board also urged state leaders attending the G20 summit in Argentina on Friday and Saturday to distinguish their principles from those of Trump by refusing to pretend that nothing is amiss.

Last week, Republican Sen. Bob Corker and Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez, the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, respectively, asked for an investigation into the role of bin Salman in the murder of Khashoggi under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act.