US, UK to revoke visas of Saudi suspects

German arms sales halt over murder could put squeeze on Eurofighter

US President Donald Trump described the killing of a Saudi journalist as a botched operation and a "bad original concept" as his government took its first, careful steps toward punishing the Saudis by moving to revoke the visas of the suspects.

Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said the entire operation was a fiasco.

"They had a very bad original concept," Trump said on Tuesday. "It was carried out poorly, and the cover-up was one of the worst cover-ups in the history of cover-ups. Somebody really messed up, and they had the worst cover-up ever."

Even in the face of details of Jamal Khashoggi's slaying, Trump has resisted calls to cut off arms sales to the kingdom and has been reluctant to antagonize the Saudi rulers. Trump considers the Saudis vital allies in his Middle East agenda.

Members of the US Congress have demanded that sanctions be imposed on Saudi Arabia over the killing of Khashoggi, who lived in self-imposed exile in the United States and wrote critically about Riyadh. The writer, who was a contributor to The Washington Post, vanished on Oct 2 after entering the Saudi consulate in Turkey, where he went to pick up documents for his marriage to his Turkish fiancee.

Turkish officials said that a Saudi team of 15 men tortured and killed the writer, and that Saudi officials had planned the killing for days. Saudi officials - after weeks of denials - now concede that he died, but they said it happened accidentally in a fight at the consulate.

"It was a total fiasco," Trump said. "The process was no good. The execution was no good. And the cover-up, if you want to call it that, was certainly no good."

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the move to revoke visas was just a first step.

Visa records are confidential and Pompeo was not more specific about who the revocations would affect, but the US State Department later said 21"Saudi suspects" would have visas revoked or would be declared ineligible to enter the US.

"These penalties will not be the last word on this matter," Pompeo told reporters.

Still, Pompeo stressed the strategic importance of the US-Saudi relationship.

"We continue to view as achievable the twin imperatives of protecting America and holding accountable those responsible for the killing of Mr. Khashoggi," he said.

On Wednesday, UK Prime Minister Theresa May said Britain will also revoke the visas of Saudi Arabian suspects involved in the murder of Khashoggi.

Outspoken chancellor

Meanwhile, Germany's halt to arms sales to Saudi Arabia over the killing of Khashoggi may jeopardize a big United Kingdom-led Eurofighter order from Riyadh and could hit jobs at a shipyard in struggling northeastern Germany.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been more outspoken than fellow major arms exporters the US, Britain and France about stopping sales to Saudi Arabia until Khashoggi's case is cleared up, a stance that a senior conservative ally said could also affect previously approved orders.

Berlin is now reviewing all Saudi sales, including contracts approved in September for more patrol boats built by privately-held Luerrsen and four Cobra counter-battery radar systems built by a consortium that includes France's Thales, Airbus and the US defense company Lockheed Martin.

German authorities approved more than $448 million worth of Saudi arms supply contracts in the first nine months of 2018, but have not specified the value of equipment not yet delivered.

The biggest impact may be on a $13 billion agreement by Saudi Arabia to buy 48 new Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets from Britain, given that a third of their components would come from Germany, industry sources said.

AFP, Reuters and Zhao Huanxin in Washington contributed to this story.

(China Daily 10/25/2018 page12)