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Why would someone want Saudi Arabian Jamal Khashoggi dead? The former FBI agent Ali Soufan says that the journalist posed a threat to the House of Saud.
DER SPIEGEL: How do you explain that Mohammed bin Salman apparently gave the order to murder one of his fiercest critics and to dismember him afterwards?
Soufan: The case is still evolving, and we do not know all the facts of what exactly happened to Jamal Khashoggi. However, based on public reports, and on what President Trump just announced, he has apparently been killed. Why would MBS order Jamal’s killing? Now, we are getting into the head of dictators and authoritarians. What made Putin decide to kill critics in the middle of London? MBS wanted to send a message. And this message is: If you oppose me I will get you whoever you are, wherever you are. He wanted it as brutal as it was to send a message. He thought he would get away with it.
DER SPIEGEL: But why did Jamal Khashoggi represent a threat to him?
Soufan: Unlike other Saudi opposition figures abroad, Khashoggi is a product of the regime. He is not an opposition figure. He worked for the Saudi leadership, even worked with Prince Tuki al-Faisal, who at one point oversaw Saudi intelligence. He was the PR man for the House of Saud and for the Kingdom. He truly loved Saudi Arabia. He knew the system from the inside. He had big credibility both in Saudi Arabia and in the West. He was respected by Western media and by many in the the House of Saud. However, he did not believe in MBS’ reckless ways and he was vocal about his criticisms, both in person and in his Washington Post columns. Someone like Jamal is threatening to someone like MBS …