ELKO, United States, Oct 21, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – US President Donald Trump
said Saturday he was not satisfied with Saudi Arabia’s response to a
dissident journalist’s death, but warned against scrapping a multibillion-
dollar deal with the conservative kingdom.
Saudi Arabia has admitted that critic Jamal Khashoggi was killed inside
its Istanbul consulate after a physical altercation, in a major dialing back
of two weeks of denials, but the whereabouts of his body remain unclear.
It said 18 Saudis have been arrested in connection with his death and two
top aides of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, as well as three other
intelligence agents, have been sacked.
“It was a big first step. It was a good first step,” Trump said of the
move.
“But I want to get to the answer.”
Yet Trump also warned against halting the massive arms deal with Riyadh,
saying it would hurt American jobs, despite the international furor over
Khashoggi’s death.
“We have $450 billion, $110 billion of which is a military order, but this
is equipment and various things ordered from Saudi Arabia,” Trump told
reporters.
“It’s over a million jobs; that’s not helpful for us to cancel an order
like that. That hurts us far more than it hurts them,” he added, noting
Riyadh could obtain the weapons from other countries like China or Russia.
“But there are other things that could be done, including sanctions.”
Turkish officials have accused Riyadh of carrying out a state-sponsored
killing and dismembering the body, which police have begun hunting for in an
Istanbul forest.
Trump has said he found the explanation credible despite continued
skepticism from some US lawmakers, including Republicans. The US president
has said that Saudi Arabia is valued as a historic customer for the US
weapons industry, and that the US also relies on the kingdom in the fight
against terror.
But the controversy over Khashoggi’s death has blown up into a major
crisis for Crown Prince Mohammed, a Trump administration favorite widely
known as MBS whose image as a modernizing Arab reformer has been gravely
undermined.