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Mattis faces criticism after comments in Khashoggi case
WASHINGTON, Dec 7, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who
has enjoyed a level of bipartisan support rarely seen in Washington, is
facing mounting public criticism amid the fallout from the slaying of Saudi
journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The fresh scrutiny of Mattis, often portrayed at home and abroad as a
trusted steward of US values during the turbulent times of President Donald
Trump, comes on the heels of his implementation of a controversial military
order to place troops on the US-Mexico border, a move critics slammed as a
political stunt.
The most vocal attack on the former Marine general came from a member of
Trump’s own Republican party this week, when Senator Lindsey Graham blasted
the Pentagon chief and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for refusing to
directly link Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to Khashoggi’s murder at
the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate in October.
Mattis has repeatedly condemned the killing and called for those
responsible to be held to account, but insisted he had seen “no smoking gun”
connecting Prince Mohammed to the Khashoggi murder.
“You have to be wilfully blind” not to conclude the murder was orchestrated
by people under Prince Mohammed’s command, Graham said, following a briefing
to several senators by CIA Director Gina Haspel.
“There’s not a smoking gun, but a smoking saw,” Graham added, referring to
the reported grisly detail that an autopsy specialist dismembered Khashoggi’s
body with a bone saw.
Graham is a firebrand in US politics, and his bouts of indignation should
be viewed through the prism of his own ambition. Initially a fierce Trump
opponent, he converted to a staunch ally, and Washington observers say he is
angling for a top posting in the administration.
– ‘I need the evidence’ –
Still, Graham was not alone in his upbraiding.
Democratic Senator Chris Murphy said Mattis and Pompeo have tried to “push
aside” the question of Prince Mohammed’s involvement and said that when the
two men spoke to senators last week they had sought to mislead lawmakers.
They “knew that there was no way this murder happened without the consent
and direction of MBS,” Murphy told MSNBC, using the abbreviation for Prince
Mohammed.
And Republican Bob Corker, who leads the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee, came to a similar conclusion, saying a jury would convict the
crown prince “in less than 30 minutes.”
On Wednesday, Mattis said Graham has “the right to his own opinion” and
reiterated his careful interpretation of the intel on Khashoggi’s murder.
“If I say something, I need the evidence,” Mattis said.
“We are continuing to review. I am quite satisfied we will find more
evidence of what happened. I just don’t know what it is going to be or who
will be implicated, but we will follow it as far as we can.”
– Border operations –
Mattis was also thrust into the spotlight last month in the run-up to the
midterm elections, as Trump repeatedly attacked “caravans” of Central
American migrants headed for the US border.
The president ordered a deployment of thousands of active-duty troops to
beef up the frontier.
Critics assailed the move as a costly political stunt to mobilize Trump’s
conservative base.
Kelly Magsamen, a senior security official for both Republican and
Democratic presidents, termed the deployment “a craven political stunt by
President Trump ahead of the US midterm elections.”
Magsamen, writing on the Defense One website, said that Mattis should
either explain his support for the move or quit if he does not believe it
warranted.
But Mattis defended the decision, saying it was not political and that the
soldiers on the border are mainly providing much-needed logistical support:
“We don’t do stunts in this department,” he said.
The deployment of approximately 5,600 troops is Mattis’s largest in his
nearly two years at the Pentagon, and he this week approved a request from
the Department of Homeland Security to extend the mission through January
2019.
– ‘Complicit’ resolution –
Saudi Arabia has sought to distance Prince Mohammed from the murder and has
received unbending support from Trump, who sees Riyadh as a vital security
partner in the Middle East and a key oil exporter and buyer of US arms.
But US lawmakers have grown increasingly leery about American support for
the Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen.
A bipartisan group of senators on Wednesday introduced a resolution that,
if approved, would say the Senate “has a high level of confidence” Prince
Mohammed was “complicit” in Khashoggi’s killing, and would assail Riyadh for
its role in Yemen’s humanitarian crisis.
The Senate could also vote on a separate measure next week to force the US
to end its military support to the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen.
Mattis’s cautious words come at a sensitive time. He must tread a fine line
with Saudi Arabia as he publicly and privately pushes Riyadh to negotiate for
a peace settlement with Houthi rebels in Yemen.
For his part, Trump has said “maybe he did and maybe he didn’t” when asked
if the crown prince knew about the plot to kill Khashoggi.
Graham suggested Mattis and Pompeo were being vague in their intelligence
assessments to please Trump.
“The reason they don’t draw the conclusion that he’s complicit is because
the administration doesn’t want to go down that road, not because there’s not
evidence to suggest he’s complicit,” Graham said.
BSS/AFP/MRI/0818 hrs