What happened to Jamal Khashoggi?

New York Times wrote:Turkish Officials Say Khashoggi Was Killed on Order of Saudi Leadership

The Trail of Clues in the Disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi

By David D. Kirkpatrick and Carlotta Gall, Oct. 9, 2018

ANKARA, Turkey — Top Turkish security officials have concluded that the Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi was assassinated in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on orders from the highest levels of the royal court, a senior official said Tuesday.

The official described a quick and complex operation in which Mr. Khashoggi was killed within two hours of his arrival at the consulate by a team of Saudi agents, who dismembered his body with a bone saw they brought for the purpose.

“It is like ‘Pulp Fiction,’” the official said.

Saudi officials, including Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, have denied the allegations, insisting that Mr. Khashoggi left the consulate freely shortly after he arrived. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey has demanded that the Saudis provide evidence proving their claim.

It remains unclear how the Turkish government determined that Mr. Khashoggi had been killed, but the conclusion that the Saudi royal court ordered it could increase the pressure on both sides of the dispute. It would make it more difficult for the two governments to come up with a face-saving story blaming Mr. Khashoggi’s disappearance on some third party, on rogue elements of the Saudi security forces, or on an accident during an interrogation that went wrong.

Turkish officials have left things murky enough — speaking on condition of anonymity and refusing to publicly disclose their evidence — that such possibilities cannot be ruled out. Some pro-government news outlets have reported that the police were still investigating the possibility that Mr. Khashoggi was abducted, not killed.

But as more than a week has passed since he was last seen, the possibility that he is alive has dwindled.

The security establishment concluded that Mr. Khashoggi’s killing was directed from the top because only the most senior Saudi leaders could order an operation of such scale and complexity, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to disclose confidential briefings.

Fifteen Saudi agents had arrived on two charter flights last Tuesday, the day Mr. Khashoggi disappeared, the official said.

All 15 left just a few hours later, and Turkey has now identified the roles that most or all of them held in the Saudi government or security services, the official said. One was an autopsy expert, presumably there to help dismember the body, the official said.

Mr. Erdogan was informed of the conclusions on Saturday, according to several people with knowledge of the briefings, and he has since dispatched officials to anonymously tell myriad news outlets, including The New York Times, that Mr. Khashoggi was killed inside the Saudi Consulate.

But Mr. Erdogan himself has not publicly accused Saudi Arabia of killing Mr. Khashoggi. Nor has the Turkish president disclosed specific evidence to back up that allegation.

His reticence has raised questions about whether Turkey might ultimately back away from an explicit accusation in the interest of preserving relations with Saudi Arabia, a wealthy regional heavyweight. Mr. Erdogan may prefer not to alienate the kingdom as he struggles to manage a troubled economy and a many-sided power struggle over the outcome of the civil war in neighboring Syria.

A publication with close ties to Mr. Erdogan’s government, the newspaper Sabah, reported Tuesday that unnamed officials had said the police were examining the possibility that Mr. Khashoggi had been abducted and not killed, possibly with the help of another country’s intelligence officers.

The official who spoke about Mr. Khashoggi’s killing said that report and other similar ones were incorrect and were probably the result of the limited information shared among different agencies within the Turkish government.

The need to protect intelligence sources — which might include intercepted communications or human informers — also contributed to the government’s reluctance to reveal its evidence, the official said. That need for secrecy could also hamper any efforts to prosecute any Saudi agents involved.

Another person briefed on the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity to disclose confidential details, told The Times on Saturday that Turkish intelligence had obtained a video of the killing, made by the Saudis to prove that it had occurred.

A commentator close to Mr. Erdogan’s government said so publicly on Tuesday.

“There is a video of the moment of him being killed,” Kemal Ozturk, a columnist in a pro-government newspaper and the former head of a semiofficial news agency, said in an interview on a pro-government television network, citing unnamed security officials.

Saudi Arabia continued to disclaim any knowledge of Mr. Khashoggi’s fate and even to express concern for his safety. Both governments said Tuesday that Saudi Arabia had allowed the Turkish police to search the Istanbul consulate, a deviation from normal diplomatic agreements.

Another senior Turkish official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss diplomatic strategy, said Ankara hoped that Washington and the international community would take the lead in challenging Saudi Arabia over the fate of Mr. Khashoggi, a legal resident of the United States and a columnist for The Washington Post.

The Trump administration had been largely silent on the matter until Monday, when Cheeto-Faced Ferret-Wearing Shit Gibbon said he was “concerned” about it in response to a question from a reporter.

The administration may have been hesitant to enter the feud in part because Saudi Arabia is a close American ally. Mr. Trump has repeatedly expressed his enthusiasm for the kingdom’s dominant leader, the 33-year-old crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman.

But with Mr. Khashoggi unseen for days, there were signs on Tuesday that the pressure was increasing. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called on the Saudi government “to support a thorough investigation of Mr. Khashoggi’s disappearance and to be transparent about the results of that investigation.”

Turkish investigators are looking into the case of Mr. Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist who entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2 and vanished.

In an opinion article published Tuesday in The Washington Post, Mr. Khashoggi’s fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, urged Mr. Trump to “help shed light on Jamal’s disappearance.” She wrote that she was “confident” he was still alive, but her hope was fading with each passing day.

The United Nations human rights office also called for Saudi Arabia and Turkey to conduct a thorough investigation and to make the results public.

“This is of serious concern, the apparent enforced disappearance of Mr. Khashoggi from the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul,” Ravina Shamdasani, a spokeswoman for the human rights office, told reporters in Geneva.

Two other Turkish government officials confirmed the broad outlines of a report in Sabah detailing the movements of the Saudi team that arrived in Istanbul on the day of Mr. Khashoggi’s disappearance. Both officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.

The newspaper said that two private Gulfstream IV planes belonging to a charter service that has often worked with the Saudi government, Sky Prime Aviation, took off from Riyadh on the morning of Oct. 2 carrying 15 passengers — all intelligence agents or government officials.

One plane landed at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport at 3:13 a.m. that day with nine passengers on board. They checked into two hotels near the consulate and booked rooms for three nights. But they collected their belongings later that day and took off in the same jet at 10:46 p.m., stopping in Dubai on the way back to Riyadh.

A second plane landed in Istanbul at 5:15 p.m. that day with six passengers. All went directly to the consulate and quickly returned to the airport; their plane took off barely an hour after it had arrived, at 6:20 p.m., the newspaper reported, stopping in Cairo as it returned to Riyadh.

Security camera footage showed Mr. Khashoggi entering the consulate shortly after 1 p.m. that day. Ms. Cengiz, his fiancée, waited outside, and she has said he never emerged.

Two and a half hours after he entered the facility, six vehicles with diplomatic license plates pulled out, carrying 15 Saudi officials and intelligence officers, Sabah reported.

Two other vehicles, including a black Mercedes Vito van with darkened windows, went from the consulate to the consul’s residence about 200 yards away. Turkish employees of the residence had unexpectedly been told not to report for work that day, the newspaper said.

Sabah reported, without naming its sources, that police investigators suspected that Mr. Khashoggi was in the van.

Friends of Mr. Khashoggi had planned to hold a funeral prayer for him on Tuesday, which had been expected to turn into a demonstration against Saudi Arabia. But his friends canceled those plans, and they could not be reached to explain their decision.

David D. Kirkpatrick reported from Ankara, and Carlotta Gall from Istanbul.

A version of this article appears in print on Oct. 9, 2018, on Page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: Accusations of a Brutal Murder And a Cover-Up at Saudis’ Behest.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/09/world/europe/jamal-khashoggi-turkey-saudi-arabia.html

BBC wrote:Jamal Khashoggi: Turkey says journalist was murdered in Saudi consulate

Mr Khashoggi, a Saudi national, was last seen visiting the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Tuesday.

A Turkish official told the BBC that initial investigations indicated he was murdered there.

Saudi Arabia has denied the accusations, saying it is "working to search for him".

Mr Khashoggi has contributed articles to the Washington Post's opinion section. The Post said it would be a "monstrous and unfathomable act" if he had been killed.

An official of Turkey's ruling AK Party told broadcaster CNN Turk there was concrete evidence in the case, although none has yet been presented.

When was he last seen?

Jamal Khashoggi went to the consulate on Tuesday to obtain a document certifying he had divorced his ex-wife, so that he could marry his Turkish fiancée, Hatice Cengiz.

Ms Cengiz said she waited outside for 11 hours, but he did not come out.

She said Mr Khashoggi was required to surrender his mobile phone, which is standard practice in some diplomatic missions. He told her to call an adviser to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan if he did not return.

"Jamal is not dead. I cannot believe that he has been killed...!" Ms Cengiz wrote in a Twitter post that included a photo of Mr Khashoggi. She added that she was waiting for official confirmation as the allegations circulated.

What has Turkey said?
Turkish officials said Mr Khashoggi was killed on the premises and his body was then removed.

Investigators said a 15-person team arrived at the consulate on Tuesday, returning to Riyadh the same day.

The head of the Turkish-Arab Media Association, Turan Kislakci, told the New York Times that Turkish police officers providing security for the consulate had checked their security cameras and did not see the journalist leave on foot.

But he added that diplomatic cars had been seen moving in and out.

Mr Erdogan was more circumspect, saying on Sunday he remained "positive" and would await the results of an investigation as Turkish authorities continue to look at camera footage and airport arrivals and departures.

What have the Saudis said?
Saudi Arabia said the allegations were baseless. It has allowed reporters into the consulate to show Mr Khashoggi is not there.

On Wednesday, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told Bloomberg News that Turkish authorities were welcome to search the building because "we have nothing to hide".

The prince said the Saudis were "very keen to know what happened to him", saying his understanding was that Mr Khashoggi left "after a few minutes or one hour".

When asked if Mr Khashoggi faced charges in Saudi Arabia, the crown prince said his country would need to know where he was first.

An already-strained relationship
Analysis by the BBC's Mark Lowen, Istanbul

This is a bombshell allegation by Turkey. And while the authorities here are so far not providing evidence to back it up, it's inconceivable that such a claim would have been made without firm grounds. Ankara's relationship with Riyadh is too important to jeopardise on the basis of unsubstantiated rumour.

That relationship is already strained over several issues, including Turkey's support for Qatar in the blockade by Saudi Arabia; its closeness to the Muslim Brotherhood - blacklisted by Riyadh as a terrorist organisation; and its rapprochement with Saudi Arabia's arch-rival Iran. But if proven, the murder of Jamal Khashoggi would be the most serious diplomatic crisis between the two in living memory.

Turkey would hope for backing from its Nato ally, the US. But Saudi Arabia has arguably become Donald Trump's closest ally in the Middle East - and Washington may be reluctant to weigh in against Riyadh at this stage.

Who is Jamal Khashoggi?
He is a high-profile critic of the crown prince. Mr Khashoggi, 59, has more than 1.6 million Twitter followers and has written for the Washington Post opinion section.

The crown prince has unveiled reforms praised by the West while carrying out an apparent crackdown on dissent. Human and women's rights activists, intellectuals and clerics have been arrested - meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is waging a war in Yemen that has triggered a humanitarian crisis.

A former editor of the al-Watan newspaper and a short-lived Saudi TV news channel, Mr Khashoggi was for years seen as close to the Saudi royal family. He served as an adviser to senior Saudi officials.

After several of his friends were arrested, his column was cancelled by the al-Hayat newspaper and he was allegedly warned to stop tweeting, Mr Khashoggi left Saudi Arabia for the US, from where he wrote opinion pieces for the Washington Post and continued to appear on Arab and Western TV channels.

"I have left my home, my family and my job, and I am raising my voice," he wrote in September 2017. "To do otherwise would betray those who languish in prison. I can speak when so many cannot."

The Washington Post on Friday blanked out his column in support.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45775819

Trump said, "I don't see why they would?"

However, he is expected to correct himself tomorrow to say: "I meant 'wouldn't'".

Lord Foul wrote:Who cares??? This is between Turkey and Saudi.......as YOU are soooo fond of pointing out we should keep the hell outta their shite and let em get to doing whatever they do.....

Lord Foul wrote:ahh...so you are now recommending a spot of "baby killing" on the spurious excuse that he was a U.S RESIDENT.....resident note, not citizen born and bred, What you are in truth after of course is the Saudi oil.....for which as I said killing babies appears to be acceptable

YOU SIR are an abominable hypocrite

nicko wrote:Saudi's have Babies too !

nicko wrote:Saudi's have Babies too !

nicko wrote:Obama did fuck all,    it was baby killing Soldiers that did it,  and you don't like Soldiers do you?

nicko wrote:Get your facts right,   millions read from right to left !

Huffington Post wrote:Jamal Khashoggi Tortured In Front Of Top Saudi Diplomat: Reports

Sara Boboltz ,HuffPost • October 17, 2018

Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post columnist who has not been seen publicly since he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul earlier this month, was drugged, beaten, killed and dismembered by Saudi operatives in the presence of a top Saudi diplomat, The Wall Street Journal reported late Tuesday, citing Turkish officials.

A pro-government newspaper in Turkey also says it obtained recordings indicating the journalist was tortured in the office of Mohammad al-Otaibi, Saudi Arabia’s consul general in Istanbul.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has declined to say whether he learned Khashoggi’s fate following apparently friendly talks with the country’s royal family on Wednesday.

Pompeo told reporters as he departed Riyadh that neither side would talk about the “facts” of the case before Saudi officials were able to complete a “thorough investigation” into the journalist’s disappearance. He claimed that the country’s leaders “made no exceptions on who they would hold accountable.”

The incident has put immense pressure on the Trump administration ― including from Republicans ― to take action.

Failing Cheeto-Faced Ferret-Wearing Shit Gibbon on Monday floated the idea that “rogue killers” were involved. The next day, he appeared to more directly back the Saudis, who have denied any knowledge of Khashoggi’s disappearance but are widely thought to be involved.

Trump cited the Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman’s denial in a series of tweets. He later compared the condemnation of Saudi officials to the sexual assault accusations against his most recent Supreme Court pick, Brett Kavanaugh.

“Here we go again with, you know, you’re guilty until proven innocent,” Trump told The Associated Press. “I don’t like that.”

“We just went through that with Justice Kavanaugh and he was innocent all the way as far as I’m concerned,” the president said.

Saudi officials were reportedly preparing to admit earlier in the week that Khashoggi was killed in an interrogation gone wrong. Yet two sources with knowledge of the recordings told The Wall Street Journal that Khashoggi was not interrogated. They said he was dragged off minutes after entering the consulate to obtain marriage documents. Both sources, along with the Turkish newspaper, say a Saudi forensic specialist suggested others in the room listen to music using headphones while he dismembered Khashoggi’s body.

The recordings reportedly suggest Khashoggi was killed in less than 10 minutes.

Al-Otaibi, the Saudi consul general, left Istanbul for Riyadh on Tuesday, Reuters reported. His departure came hours before his home was expected to be searched in relation to the journalist’s disappearance.

Trump, when considering the U.S. response to Khashoggi’s disappearance, has emphasized the importance of an arms deal with Saudi Arabia to American interests.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.

Original Quill wrote:

nicko wrote:Obama did fuck all,    it was baby killing Soldiers that did it,  and you don't like Soldiers do you?

Soldiers are sort of out of date.  We no longer need great armies any more than we need mêlées or castle walls.

All those lives, and $17-trillion, when a 6-man special ops squad could have taken out Saddam Hussein in a single day.  That's why I compare the whole Iraq war to a single operation, designed by Dr. Obama.

Remember, lefties are the intelligent ones.  All ingenious innovation goes from left to right, just like reading.

Didge wrote:

Original Quill wrote:


Soldiers are sort of out of date.  We no longer need great armies any more than we need mêlées or castle walls.

All those lives, and $17-trillion, when a 6-man special ops squad could have taken out Saddam Hussein in a single day.  That's why I compare the whole Iraq war to a single operation, designed by Dr. Obama.

Remember, lefties are the intelligent ones.  All ingenious innovation goes from left to right, just like reading.

Really??

How could thy have gotten close to him, to take him out?

Didge wrote:Have you watched to many james bond movies?

Wiki wrote:Fleming worked for Britain's Naval Intelligence Division during the Second World War and was involved in planning Operation Goldeneye and in the planning and oversight of the 30 Assault Unit and T-Force intelligence units. His wartime service and his career as a journalist provided much of the background, detail, and depth of the James Bond novels.

Didge wrote:Hence no soldier is out of date

Original Quill wrote:Soldiers are sort of out of date.  We no longer need great armies any more than we need mêlées or castle walls.

Original Quill wrote:

Didge wrote:Hence no soldier is out of date

Obviously, I agree with that.  Although drone surveillance is generally run by the Air Force, and the special ops that killed bin Laden were Navy, the point is that we need strategic boots on the ground.  Go back and reread what I said:

Original Quill wrote:Soldiers are sort of out of date.  We no longer need great armies any more than we need mêlées or castle walls.

My point was that great armies are out-of-date.  Now, compare the Republican Bush with the Democrat Obama.  Bush committed thousands of men in a general mêlée, unnecessarily.  Obama, as a brilliant tactician, accomplished the same thing with a half dozen highly trained men, and no fanfare.  It's the difference between dumb and smart.

Taking out the head is much more intelligent than taking on the mêlée.  Without the queen, the bees do not know where to go.  Your example of saving Hitler is ridiculous...had Hitler been eliminated, the war would have been over.  The replacement is inevitably either not as talented, or, like Admiral Karl Doenitz, becomes a partner in bringing peace.

nicko wrote:When it come to Military tactics quill knows about as much as a Girl Guide !

Didge wrote:They were still soldiers, called Navy Seals, an elite unit like the British SBS

Didge wrote:Well the view that soldiers are out out of date is sheer nonsense and for many reasons. You cannot control a system without boots on the ground

nicko wrote:When it come to Military tactics quill knows about as much as a Girl Guide !

Original Quill wrote:

Didge wrote:They were still soldiers, called Navy Seals, an elite unit like the British SBS

But, you are deliberately evading the point.

Didge wrote:Well the view that soldiers are out out of date is sheer nonsense and for many reasons. You cannot control a system without boots on the ground

Do you think the soldiers should ride horses, too?  Tactics change, and as they do the entire nature of warfare changes.  Obama brilliantly grasped this.

Now, you're fond of questions, riddle me this: which was more successful, 1) the Iraq war; or 2) the taking of Usuma bin Laden?  The Iraq war was started by Republicans, and followed the old style of mêlée confrontations.  Bin Laden was taken by the new style of small, strategically focused units.

With bin Laden, the war was on and over in one day.  The Iraq/Afghanistan war was started in 2003 and is still going on.  And you are arguing to us that the war without end is superior?  Gd. luck with that.

Original Quill wrote:

nicko wrote:When it come to Military tactics quill knows about as much as a Girl Guide !

  Yes...we know nicko, you still love your horse.

Didge wrote:

Original Quill wrote:

  Yes...we know nicko, you still love your horse.

You mean you are jealouse of the size of his hose pipe

Seriously mate, how fucking stupid are you looking here

Push comes to shove, how many here would look to you for miltary tactics?

Didge wrote:Seriously mate, how fucking stupid are you looking here

Original Quill wrote:

Didge wrote:


You mean you are jealouse of the size of his hose pipe

Seriously mate, how fucking stupid are you looking here

Push comes to shove, how many here would look to you for miltary tactics?

Didge wrote:Seriously mate, how fucking stupid are you looking here

Is that what is important to you...how you are looking?   Such a narcissist...I'd be embarrassed if I were you.

CBS News wrote:Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan gives no evidence, but calls Jamal Khashoggi killing "political murder"

Last Updated Oct 23, 2018 10:23 AM EDT

ANKARA, Turkey -- The Turkish president presented no new evidence to the world on Tuesday from his country's investigation into the killing of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi, as skepticism intensified about Saudi Arabia's account that he died accidentally in its consulate in Istanbul. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had said he would "go into detail" about the case that has shocked the world and raised suspicions that a Saudi hit squad planned Khashoggi's killing after he walked into the consulate on Oct. 2, and then attempted to cover it up.

The key piece of evidence -- which, if it exists, the Turks have been keeping to themselves -- is a purported audio recording of the killing itself. Turkish officials have leaked gruesome details of the alleged recording to the media over the past two weeks. However, both the Turks and U.S. officials say no such audio has been shared, and thus far its existence has not been proven.

Erdogan said on Monday that he would reveal to the world the "naked truth" about what happened in the Saudi consulate, but addressing lawmakers in the Turkish parliament on Tuesday, the Turkish leader added little more than rhetoric to the scandal, accusing the Saudi government of a "savage," premeditated "political murder," but offering no solid evidence to back the claim. He did not mention any audio or video evidence in the case.

Erdogan was welcomed to the floor of the Turkish Parliament with applause from lawmakers of his own party on Tuesday. He first "honored the memory" of Khashoggi and extended his condolences to the journalist's wife and family.

The Turkish leader said Kahashoggi's killing was "planned and executed" by the Saudi government.

He said the first thing the 15-member Saudi team, which arrived on Oct. 2 via private jet in Istanbul, did upon reaching the consulate, was to disable the video cameras in the building.

Erdogan also said Turkish investigators established quickly that Khashoggi had not left the consulate building, as the Saudis claimed in the days immediately after the journalist's disappearance, which set in motion an official investigation by a Turkish prosecutor.

Erdogan dismissed Saudi Arabia's claims thus far -- that Khashoggi's killing was accidental and resulted from a "fist fight" -- as attempts to obscure the truth. He said Saudi Arabia's efforts to "hide" behind diplomatic immunity had not thwarted Turkey's investigation.

"To blame such an incident on a handful of security and intelligence members would not satisfy us or the international community," Erdogan said. "Saudi Arabia has taken an important step by admitting the murder. As of now we expect of them to openly bring to light those responsible -- from the highest ranked to the lowest -- and to bring them to justice."

Erdogan suggested the Saudis allow the 18 people named by the kingdom as suspects in the case be put on trial in Turkey.

After his speech, Erdogan had presented more questions than answers; wondering aloud why Saudi officials' story had changed so many times since Oct. 2, where Khashoggi's body is now, and who is the "local collaborator" cited by Saudi officials as disposing of the body after the killing.

Khashoggi's sons meet the king and the crown prince
As Erdogan spoke in Ankara, Saudi King Salman and his son Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman -- the man strongly suspected by Turkish officials and some senior U.S. lawmakers of sending a team to kill Khashoggi -- met the slain journalist's sons in Riyadh and had their photos taken shaking their hands.

An image released on Oct. 23, 2018 by Saudi Arabia's state-run SPA news agency shows Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (right) shaking hands with Salah Khashoggi, the son of slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, in Riyadh. HANDOUT
Saudi's state-run SPA news agency published photos of the encounters and said the two senior-most royals, "expressed their deepest condolences and sympathy to the family and relatives of the late Jamal Khashoggi."

The SPA report said Sahl bin Ahmed Khashoggi and Salah bin Jamal Khashoggi, "expressed their great thanks" for the condolences from the royals, whose family have enjoyed absolute power in the kingdom for almost 100 years.

Reports claim video link with top Prince Salman aid
Unnamed officials with connections to the Saudi royal family told various media outlets on Monday that Prince Salman's close aid, Saud al-Qahtani, was beamed into the room of the Istanbul consulate on Oct. 2 where Khashoggi was being detained, via video call. Turkish newspaper Sabah, which is aligned with Erdogan, reported that Qahtani insulted Khashoggi via video link, before telling his operatives in the room to, "bring me the head of the dog."

Saudi Arabia has said Kashoggi, a critic of the Saudi royal family, was killed in a "fistfight" with officials sent to encourage him to return to the kingdom.

Turkish media and officials say the 59-year-old Washington Post columnist was killed and dismembered by a 15-man Saudi hit squad which included operatives close to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The Saudi government insists Prince Salman was unaware of the operation and that it was the team on the ground in Istanbul which overstepped its duties and killed him accidentally, purportedly by placing him in a chokehold. Khashoggi's body was then rolled into a carpet and given to a "local collaborator," one Saudi official told CBS News. The official said the body was not cut up into pieces, as reports from Turkish sources have alleged.

Erdogan insisted on Tuesday that the Saudis must identify the "collaborator."

As CBS News correspondent Holly Williams reports, there's been no word yet on where Khashoggi's body actually ended up, but Turkish police found a Mercedes Benz, reportedly registered to the Saudi consulate and apparently abandoned about 10 miles away in an underground parking lot, on Monday. The vehicle was being searched.

Erdogan was expected to speak on Tuesday as Saudi Arabia hosts a glitzy investment conference that many dignitaries have decided to skip because of the scandal. The kingdom's Energy Minister, Khalid al-Falih, said on stage at the conference that his country was in "crisis" over the journalist's "abhorrent" killing. It was not clear whether Crown Prince Salman would take the stage at any point during the conference.

"As we know these are difficult days. We are going through a crisis," Falih said at the Future Investment Initiative, calling Khashoggi's killing "abhorrent"

Turkey says it would cooperate with independent probe
Turkey's foreign minister said on Tuesday, meanwhile, that his country would cooperate with international bodies if they were to launch an independent probe into Khashoggi's killing.

In an interview with state-run Anadolu Agency, Mevlut Cavusoglu also reiterated on Tuesday that Turkey had not shared any evidence concerning the Saudi writer's death at the Saudi consulate with any country, but he added that there may have been "an exchange of views between intelligence organizations."

Cavusoglu said: "If a request for an international investigation is made ... we would cooperate."

CIA Director Gina Haspel is traveling to Turkey as part of the investigation into the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, CBS News learned on Monday.  

Earlier Monday, Trump told reporters that the U.S. had "top intelligence people in Turkey," but he didn't specify who he meant.

"We're going to see what we have," Mr. Trump said. "I'll know a lot tomorrow, they'll be coming back tonight or tomorrow morning. But we have people in Saudi Arabia."

2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Tommy Monk wrote:Saddam Hussein and the baathists = left wing socialists.

And they held a firm grip over any islamists in Iraq too, promoting a secular style of govt that protected other religious minorities!

Tommy Monk wrote:Not true at all... there was no al queada in Iraq until well after the Iraq war clusterfuck...

Universiteit Leiden The Netherlands wrote:Conclusion

While Al Qaeda Core’s network of affiliates has certainly grown over time, the data do not support the doomsday image of a vast and amorphous enemy that its reach implies. Rather, the network ultimately appears to have overextended itself for Al Qaeda Core’s purposes, and the group has gradually lost control.
http://www.terrorismanalysts.com/pt/index.php/pot/article/view/469/html

Tommy Monk wrote:
Saddam Hussein and the baathists = left wing socialists.


And they held a firm grip over any islamists in Iraq too, promoting a secular style of govt that protected other religious minorities!