‘Skullduggery’: Washington think tank says ‘no’ to Saudi funds
A prominent Washington think tank that two years ago received a $2 million grant from the Saudi Embassy will stop taking money from the kingdom and is pulling out of cultural programs funded by the Gulf state as a result of the apparent murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, according to the organization’s chairman.
“We had a board meeting this week to decide on that and the board was unanimous that no, under the current circumstances, we don’t think it’s appropriate to take Saudi government money,” Richard Clarke, chairman of the Middle East Institute, who served as White House counterterrorism adviser under President Bill Clinton and President George W. Bush, said in an interview for the Yahoo News podcast “Skullduggery.”
Clarke, who worked with the Saudis on counterterrorism issues while serving in the White House, said the institute had a relationship with Khashoggi. “He came to our meetings; he was on our panels,” he said. The apparent Saudi decision to murder him and dismember his body seems inexplicable, he added. “You can’t come up with a rational reason for doing this,” he said. “Maybe they were trying to send a message to other dissidents: This is what happens to you.”
In the end, Clarke said, he fully expects that ongoing investigations will “reveal [Khashoggi] was killed by Saudi intelligence officials in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. “
“The question then arises: Who ordered that? Who approved that?” he added. “We can assume it was fairly high up. The idea that it was some rogue decision seems extremely unlikely given that this sort of thing has never been done before by the Saudis.”
But Clarke said it is also unlikely that the assassination of Khashoggi will ever be pinned directly on Mohammed bin Salman, the impulsive crown prince. U.S. officials suspect he is likely to have been aware of the intelligence operation that targeted the journalist. Instead, the Saudis are more likely to throw some lesser officials “under the bus” by arresting them and announcing a shakeup of its ministers.
“I’m not really sure we’ll know if the crown prince approved it,” Clarke said.
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