While Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was criticized for his warm embrace of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in front of the cameras on Wednesday, Pompeo’s message to the crown prince in private took on a more harsh tone, CNN reported.
According to a source familiar with the meeting who spoke to CNN, the discussion between the two was not friendly. Pompeo reportedly warned bin Salman that he would have to “own” what happened to Washington Post writer Jamal Khashoggi and that “every fact is going to get out.”
He also reportedly told bin Salman the investigation needed to wrap up quickly and those involved would have to be dealt with posthaste. If that doesn’t happen, Pompeo warned, “the U.S. will have to deal with this” because “the world will demand it” and President “Trump’s hand will be forced by the global pressure,” the source told CNN.
Pompeo’s private tone is the strongest stance seen taken by the Trump administration since Khashoggi disappeared and Turkish officials claimed they had evidence that the journalist was murdered by Saudi officials. Both publicly and privately, Trump has expressed concern over the situation, but hasn’t hidden his interest in maintaining a good rapport with the kingdom.
This doesn’t sound harsh; it sounds like an apology for being involved in this at all and a clear message that they would not be involved at all except, you know, global pressure. Please don’t be mad at us.
Most likely, MbS told Popeo to pound sand and get the f*ck out of his country. Oh, and PS, if Rump doesn’t back up SA on this horror, tell “Kush” that he (and Trump, Inc.) can kiss any money from the House of Saud goodbye.
I also read there’s a plan to announce severe sanctions on Iran on something like Nov. 3 for reasons that will occur to most folks’ minds and the free flow of Saudi oil was meant to take up the slack. Put sanctions on the Saudis and that piece of the puzzle gets lost behind the radiator. One more reason to do the usual dance about who can ultimately know anything about anything really they “strongly denied” the grisly murder and oh look a cow.
What do you want to bet Pompeo’s people leaked this to make it look as though he’s getting tough on the Saudis?
And if MbS steps back and looks at the whole board he sees that Trump has already forsworn the use of any effective strategic counter moves like canceling defense contracts or changing the status of forces agreement. MbS knows that Trump has painted himself into a corner. Trump has left himself with very few options and they are getting fewer and weaker with every new tweet. If MbS knows his Shakespeare he is probably thinking…