Six-and-a-half months ago, Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was my colleague at The Washington Post, walked into the Saudi Consulate in Turkey to take care of some paperwork. Then he vanished. In the days and weeks that followed, the world learned that a 15-member hit team dispatched by the Saudi government had strangled the 59-year-old Khashoggi, dismembered him with a bone saw while listening to music, and disposed of his body.
The CIA would conclude that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the country’s de facto ruler, had ordered the assassination. The Saudi government claims otherwise, protesting that Mohammed — while known for micromanaging far more minor affairs in the kingdom — had been totally in the dark.