Pompeo Call Saudi Arabia’s Diplomatic Ties a “Middle Finger”
Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sided with Saudi Arabia and claimed that his contacts with the nation could be seen as a “middle finger” to American media in his new book, “Never Give an Inch.”
When recalling his tenure as a diplomat under then-president Donald Trump, Mr. Pompeo said, “Our relationship with Saudi Arabia truly drove the media madder than a vegan in a slaughterhouse.”
The president might have been jealous of me for showing The Washington Post, The New York Times, and other reality-defying bedwetters the middle finger.
In his book, which was published on Tuesday, Mr. Pompeo said he had been to Saudi Arabia days after the country had killed journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Until his death in 2018, Mr. Khashoggi was a vocal opponent of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of the kingdom.
The journalist’s assassination was ordered by the Crown Prince, according to declassified documents released by the president-elect Joe Biden. Mr. Khashoggi was enticed to the Turkish consulate of the kingdom, where he was murdered by strangulation and butchery.
Mr. Pompeo, who called the “grotesque butchery” disgusting and horrible, said he was not shocked that the monarchy would go to such lengths to silence a critic.
But, to me at least, it wasn’t shocking. I had seen enough of the Middle East to know that this level of savagery was all too common there, he continued.
Mr. Pompeo, a former CIA director, asserted that Mr. Khashoggi was a “journalist” in fact. The media’s portrayal of him as a “Saudi Arabian Bob Woodward who was slain for courageously criticizing the Saudi royal family” was made fun of by him in the book.
Despite being accountable for Mr. Khashoggi’s death, the former U.S. Secretary of State supports the Crown Prince’s leadership. As a really historic character on the global arena, Mr. Salman “will prove to be one of the most important leaders of his time,” according to Mr. Pompeo.
