OPINION THE U.S. HAS ENABLED SAUDI CRIMES FOR YEARS. WILL JAMAL KHASHOGGI'S MURDER CHANGE THAT? | OPINION

PHYLLIS BENNIS

The murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi isn't the first atrocity committed by key U.S. ally Saudi Arabia. And Donald Trump isn't the first U.S. president to stand by and watch. America's red lines almost never apply to America's allies.

But this time could be different.

Khashoggi's murder was committed in broad daylight, in a Saudi diplomatic venue in another U.S. allied country. It was carried out by a special team flying in private jets known to be owned by the Saudi crown prince, including at least one "autopsy specialist" armed with his own bone saw, and followed up by a cleaning crew armed with buckets, scrub-brushes, and fresh paint. This wasn't normal, even by Saudi standards.

Khashoggi was a mild, cautious journalist with close ties to the Saudi royals, who only recently emerged as a critic of the regime. A permanent legal resident of the United States who was friendly with Washington elites, the Washington Post columnist should have been untouchable. Going after him so brazenly could only be an attempt to intimidate all potential critics.

His murder has generated massive press coverage and public outrage. And there's been some blowback in the form of high-visibility CEOs pulling out of the Saudi crown prince’s "Davos in the Desert" investment festival.

The Saudis now admit the murder, blaming it on a "rogue operation." They've even made a few show arrests. Still, putative Saudi ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (known widely as MBS) is plainly counting on Trump—and especially his BFF Jared Kushner—to do what they've always done in response to Saudi abuses: nothing.

After all, the United States has done nothing to challenge any of the prince’s earlier stunts: launching a pointless economic blockade against Qatar; detaining the Lebanese prime minister; arresting over 200 Saudi princes and business leaders and extorting much of their private fortunes; and freezing trade relations with Canada over a mild human rights complaint. Most of all, there's Saudi Arabia's devastating, one-sided war on Yemen.

Backed by U.S. military and political assistance, the Saudi and United Arab Emirates (UAE)-led assault has been overwhelmingly responsible for the more than 16,000 civilians killed and the tens of thousands more civilians injured in the Arab world's poorest country. Parents are still mourning the 40 children killed and 56 wounded last August in a U.S.-backed Saudi airstrike targeting a school bus. Meanwhile, the Saudis are blockading Yemeni ports crucial for both commercial and humanitarian goods, causing thousands of cholera deaths and creating a massive famine that the U.N. calls the worst anywhere in the last 100 years. In normal times, bad press like the Khashoggi crisis might make the prince a little jittery at the prospect of his U.S. military spigot being turned off. These days, the U.S. president accepts—and parrots—Saudi denials at face value. The crown prince, Trump breezily accepted, "totally denied any knowledge of what took place in their Turkish consulate." He even dispatched Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for an obsequious photo op sharing smiles and a warm handshake with MBS in Riyadh.