Ali Shihabi on U.S./Saudi Relations

AMANPOUR: If the government denies that it was the crown prince. tell us who it was and how do you know it wasn’t the crown prince? Shouldn’t the government tell us that?

SHIHABI: Well, I mean. look two things. First of all, the CIA came out with a leak. There’s been no statement from the CIA. It came out through a leak like Washington leaks like the sea and it said that based there that the CIA had no direct evidence but it was based on their understanding of how things happen in Saudi Arabia. With all due respect to the CIA, I would think that maybe their understanding of what happens in the inner sanctums of the Royal Palace are imperfect. And then you’ve had, you know, Secretary Mattis and Secretary Pompeo come out yesterday and bluntly say that they have reviewed every document concerning this, read every transcript and there simply is no smoking gun, there is no evidence that the crown prince did that. So, in the face of that, it’s not just the White House, it’s not just the president, but there’s a — the two institutions, the Pentagon and the State Department, have looked at everything and they’ve come out and said, “There simply is not a smoking gun.”

AMANPOUR: I —

SHIHABI: Nobody wants to believe that.

AMANPOUR: I know that Secretary Pompeo said that, I’m not sure about Secretary Mattis, although he said, “We have to continue our alliance,” but–

SHIHABI: No, no. I will assure you, I have seen it and Secretary Mattis and you could go back and look at that, he said that —

AMANPOUR: OK. All right.

SHIHABI: — in a certain amount of detail.

AMANPOUR: All right.

SHIHABI: And very clearly.

AMANPOUR: OK. You talk about leaks and misunderstandings. I mean, let’s face it, what actually we found out and eventually the Saudi government and special prosecutor admitted was all the “leaks” that were desperately accurate that began from the first day from Turkey. So, these were accurate and they were denied and denied and denied. So, let’s just move beyond that because you talk about no smoking gun. How do you assess then what the U.S. is saying that they heard on the tape in Arabic the perpetrator, the local sort of ringleader, say, “Tell your boss this is being completed”?

SHIHABI: Again, this is a leak. We’ve heard that from the Turks. We don’t know who the boss of that person is. We — it’s taken out of context. We do know that the Saudi government fired two senior people who are — who effectively are responsible for this and a number of other generals in the intelligence service who participated in the coverup. Now, I think the Saudi government is at fault because it should have come out and should put everything on the table much more than it does. Unfortunately, it’s not in the DNA of the system and they still haven’t appreciated how they need to communicate to the world. But it’s been pretty clear, I mean, there are a number of people under investigation, there are a number of people arrested, a number of senior people fired. And again that American administration, you know, with the secretary of state and the secretary of defense has come out unequivocally and said that there is no smoking gun. You have to give that some weight, Christiane. But in this polarized environment in Washington nobody wants to — people want to hear what they want to hear.