In the Butchering of Jamal Khashoggi the Shame of Western Elites is on Display

Apparently the cover story of a rogue operative lethally botching the interrogation of Jamal Khashoggi has died aborning.

Which is it? An intelligence agent going rogue or an interrogator making an error in the application of his craft? The Saudis and their Trump administration enablers can't even get their cover story straight.

According to "Saudis May Admit Khashoggi Was Killed in Interrogation by Mistake" by Gardiner Harris, David D. Kirkpatrick and Eileen Sullivan

Azzam Tamimi, an Islamist friend of Mr. Khashoggi, called the “rogue” theory “disastrous” for the credibility of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey. 

“The Turks have leaked so much that it is inconceivable that they would settle for less than telling the world exactly what happened,” said Mr. Tamimi, who met Mr. Khashoggi for lunch in London the day before he disappeared.

Shaming does seem to be working:

Washington’s clubby diplomatic and lobbying worlds have been rived by the Khashoggi case. On Monday, the Glover Park Group, which had a $150,000-per-month contract to represent the Saudi government, and the BGR Group, with an $80,000-per-month contract, both ended the relationships, according to people familiar with the situations. Their actions followed a similar move by the Harbour Group last week.

Advisors close to Prince Mohammed said he was shocked by the universal condemnation after Mr. Khashoggi’s disappearance.

That has firmed up a growing belief in Western circles that the prince who fueled a war in Yemen to the point of humanitarian disaster, imposed an intemperate blockade against Qatar, arrested a clutch of Saudi elites for money and took two weeks to come up with a passable explanation for Mr. Khashoggi’s fate is not ready for the throne.

“Many in Washington have reached the conclusion that this is a guy we can’t do business with,” said Gerald M. Feierstein, the director for government relations, policy and programs at the Middle East Institute, a nonpartisan think tank, and a former United States ambassador to Yemen.

Al Jazeera is reporting more corporate cancellations at "Davos in the Desert." Google and banking giant HSBC are among the latest. A stampede is developing. Maybe I was too jaundiced to think that Western elites, fearful that the gravy train might tip over, would quickly fall in line with the absurd Saudi cover story.

Trump looks truly weak in all of this. Sending the cloddish Pompeo to fawn over King Salman crown price Mohammed bin Salman is not an optic you want to broadcast. Going into November, it's worse than the 1000-plus point correction in the Dow Jones.