MBS approved Khashoggi murder: US intelligence report

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is responsible for the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, the US administration has revealed in the summary of a long-awaited report detailing the American intelligence community's findings on the murder. The report will likely alter US policymakers' ties with Saudi Arabia and the crown prince, known as MBS, particularly. "We assess that Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman approved an operation in Istanbul, Turkey to capture or kill Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi," the report, a summary of which was released on Friday, said. President Joe Biden has already suggested that he would forgo the young prince - the de facto ruler of the kingdom - and deal directly with the ageing King Salman. The report said US intelligence officials concluded that MBS ordered the assassination, based on his control of major decisions in the kingdom. 'Aides were unlikely to question Mohammad bin Salman's orders or undertake sensitive actions without his consent' - US report "We base this assessment on the Crown Prince's control of decisionmaking in the Kingdom since 2017, the direct involvement of a key adviser and members of Mohammad bin Salman's protective detail in the operation, and the Crown Prince's support for using violent measures to silence dissidents abroad, including Khashoggi," the US intelligence document said. The US intelligence assessment added that MBS's aides could not have killed the journalist without the crown prince's blessings. "At 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," it said. "This suggests that the aides were unlikely to question Mohammad bin Salman's orders or undertake sensitive actions without his consent." US-Saudi relations Biden spoke on the phone to King Salman less than 24 hours before releasing the report, but a White House statement describing their conversation did not mention Khashoggi. "The President told King Salman he would work to make the bilateral relationship as strong and transparent as possible," it said. "The two leaders affirmed the historic nature of the relationship and agreed to work together on mutual issues of concern and interest. Khashoggi killers used planes seized by Saudi crown prince: Report Read More » Khashoggi, a former Saudi government insider, became a democracy advocate and an influential critic of the crown prince before his death in October 2018. Saudi government agents killed and dismembered him at the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul. Saudi officials insisted for 17 days after the murder that Khashoggi had left the building alive before eventually acknowledging that he was killed. Riyadh, however, still says the assassination was an unauthorised operation that occurred without the approval of top leaders. Khashoggi was a US resident who wrote for the Washington Post and Middle East Eye. His murder caused a massive backlash from legislators of both major parties, who demanded accountability for the killing. But former President Donald Trump moved to shield Saudi leaders from the brewing wrath in Washington, often citing Riyadh's geopolitical role in countering Iran and arms deals with US weapons manufacturers. Late in 2019, Congress passed a law ordering the US intelligence chief to submit to lawmakers within 30 days an unclassified report outlining "the advance knowledge and role" of any Saudi official in "the directing, ordering, or tampering of evidence in the killing of Khashoggi". The Trump administration simply ignored the legally-binding request. It released a statement to Congress arguing that releasing such a report would compromise the US intelligence community's sources and methods. It has been long assumed that an operation of the magnitude of the Khashoggi assassination - where the hit team used Saudi state and diplomatic resources - could not have happened without MBS's approval. US media reports indicated late in 2018 that the CIA concluded that MBS is responsible for the murder. Legislators who received classified intelligence briefings on the matter have also come to the same conclusion. "If the crown prince went in front of a jury, he would be convicted in 30 minutes," then-Republican Senator Bob Corker told reporters in December 2018, after a meeting with intelligence officials behind closed doors. Still, advocates for justice for the slain journalist have long maintained that releasing the US intelligence report to the public is an important step towards ensuring accountability for the killing. Agnes Callamard, the UN rapporteur on extrajudicial killings who found in a 2019 probe that the murder was a state-sanctioned crime, has been calling on Washington to share its findings on the killing. "From an international legal standpoint and an international political standpoint, the public release of a document with the CIA assessment - a document that could be probed by others - will make it far more difficult for the rest of the world, particularly governments, to ignore Mohammed bin Salman's personal involvement in the operation that led to the killing and dismemberment of Jamal Khashoggi," Callamard told MEE last year. The crown prince has personally denied involvement in the assassination. Asked whether he ordered the operation, bin Salman told CBS News in 2019: "Absolutely not." Calls for sanctions During her confirmation hearing in January, director of national intelligence Avril Haines committed to releasing the report. The unclassified document comes as the Biden administration says it is reassessing US-Saudi relations. On Wednesday, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki reaffirmed the US president will bypass MBS when dealing with Saudi Arabia, and correspond with King Salman instead - "counterpart to counterpart". Early in February, Biden ended US support for Saudi "offensive operations" in Yemen, but reaffirmed Washington's commitment to the kingdom's security. Advocacy groups were quick to call for consequences for Riyadh. "This confirmation of bin Salman's role underscores the urgent need for a new approach to the US-Saudi relationship," William Hartung, director of the Arms and Security Project at the Center for International Policy, said in a statement. "The Saudi regime must be held accountable for its crimes at home and abroad, including not only the Khashoggi murder but in its central role in creating the world’s worst humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen." Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff, chair of the House Intelligence Committee who has been pushing for making the report public, vowed on Friday to continue to push for justice for the murder. "The highest levels of the Saudi government, including Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, are responsible for the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi," Schiff wrote on Twitter. "There must be accountability, and we will continue to press for it." Late in 2018, Washington announced sanctions against 17 Saudi individuals, including Saud al-Qahtani, a senior adviser to the crown prince, for "having a role in the killing". At the time, critics of the previous administration said the measures were not adequate because they did not punish the officials who ordered the assassination. On Thursday, Mike Eisner, general counsel at Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), a rights group envisioned by Khashoggi that was fully established last year, said the sanctions should be imposed on the crown prince himself.