Anything that involves a Middle Eastern country is always complicated and surrounded with mystery and questions. The disappearance/murder of Jamal Khashoggi proves this point. The more that is written about the Khashoggi disappearance, the more questions arise. Only one thing is certain. No matter what he does or says, President Donald J. Trump is wrong, according to our media overlords.

Here are some of the known facts: 1. Mr. Khashoggi was born in Saudi Arabia. 2. He was 60 years old at the time of his disappearance. 3. He was a columnist for the Washington Post. 4. He was last seen on October 2, 2018 entering the Saudi embassy in Istanbul, Turkey.

Screengrab of Jamal Khashoggi entering the Saudi embassy on October 2, 2018. He has not been seen since. (NBC New York)

The New York Times has an especially gruesome article titled “Audio Offers Gruesome Details of Jamal Khashoggi Killing, Turkish Official Says”. According to this article:

But Turkish officials on Wednesday reiterated their conclusion that a team of 15 Saudi agents, some with ties to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was waiting for Mr. Khashoggi inside the Saudi Consulate the moment he arrived, at about 1:15 p.m. on Oct. 2.

Wait, whut? Fifteen Saudi agents were waiting inside for Mr. Khashoggi? That’s a huge crowd of people. Excuse me, but fifteen? Take a look at the picture above. Poky, narrow street. Small door. Does that small door open into a huge building? Fifteen men are a lot of men.

More from the Times article:

After he was shown into the office of the Saudi consul, Mohammad al-Otaibi, the agents seized Mr. Khashoggi almost immediately and began to beat and torture him, eventually cutting off his fingers, the senior Turkish official said, describing the audio recordings.

Like this happens every day. Was there no one else in the building who might have heard the noise of fifteen men beating on one man? More:

Whether Mr. Khashoggi was killed before his fingers were removed and his body dismembered could not be determined.

But the consul was present and objected, the official said. “Do this outside. You will put me in trouble,” Mr. Otaibi told the agents, according to the Turkish official and a report in the Turkish newspaper Yeni Safak. Both cited audio recordings said to have been obtained by Turkish intelligence.

“If you want to live when you come back to Arabia, shut up,” one of the agents replied, according to both the official and the newspaper.

The “consul” was not bothered by beating, torturing or dismembering, but please do it outside. Like I said: anything involving one Middle Eastern country is complicated and surrounded with mystery and questions. In this case, we are talking Saudi Arabia and Turkey. An individual life isn’t worth much in either of those countries.

And, here are the sixty-four million dollar questions: 1. Does an audiotape of the murder/dismemberment exist? 2. Who made it? Did the Turkish government have audio recording equipment in the Saudi building? Isn’t that building Saudi sovereign territory? 3. If the Turkish government didn’t make the recording, who did? And, then, how did the Turks get it?

Saudi Arabia is denying that the House of Saud, including Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, had anything to do with the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi. Or, maybe they did, and it was an interrogation gone wrong? Oops, their bad.

I am going with Mr. Trump on this one. We don’t know enough about what happened or how it happened. Turkey needs to make with the audiotape and let our experts listen to and test it. As a matter of fact, watch this video:

Very good, Mr. President. We don’t know enough about what happened. If there is an audiotape, it needs to be tested by the very best. We cannot trust any of the countries involved, and we don’t need to jump to any conclusions.

Feature Photo credit: Umar Farooq | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

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