Doug Thompson: A long, long way from Theodore

“Perdicaris alive” is just a faint echo

"Instead of speaking softly and carrying a big stick, President Wilson spoke bombastically and carried a dish rag."

-- Theodore Roosevelt, 1916.

I would rather be thought of as cold-blooded than dumb.

Therefore, if playing along during a disappearance under very suspicious circumstances, I would avoid making lame excuses.

Consider these remarks from the president of the United States regarding such a disappearance: "It sounded to me like maybe it could have been rogue killers. Who knows?"

Who knows? Well, those who make a good-faith attempt to find out, usually.

Drop all the politics and drama surrounding the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi, the journalist who often criticized the leading Saudi prince. Look at the matter for what it is: a missing person's case with very reasonable suspicion of foul play.

Khashoggi is a Saudi Arabian national living and working in the United States. Note the use of the word "is" instead of "was," however unlikely. Today I will make no assumptions at all.

Khashoggi proposed to marry Hatice Cengiz, a Turkish national. To do so, he needed some certification from the Saudi government that he has, indeed, divorced his first wife. He went to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, on Sept. 28 to obtain such documents. He was told to return another day. An appointment was made for 1:30 p.m. on Oct. 2.

Khashoggi returned to the consulate on Oct. 2 on or about 1:14 p.m. local time. His fiancee drove him there and waited in the car -- for 10 hours after he went in.

Khashoggi has not been seen again, at least not by anyone who is talking.

The consulate has security cameras. Consulate staff say Khashoggi left shortly after arriving. If they have video of his departure, they have not released it. Outside the consulate, Istanbul is home to more security cameras. No video of Khashoggi from anywhere else has showed up either.

In any missing person investigation, one reasonably expects the last known location of the person who disappeared would be searched. "Contrary to popular belief, foreign embassies and consulates remain subject to the jurisdiction and laws of their host country," according to a very nice primer on international law in these situations by Scott R. Anderson, a former legal adviser for the U.S. State Department. I highly recommend his Monday article at lawfareblog.com

Two weeks passed before Turkish investigators were allowed into the consulate.

"Here we go again with, you know, you're guilty until proven innocent. 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 on Tuesday. This was two weeks and a day after Khashoggi disappeared. The president did no favors to recently confirmed U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh with that comparison.

Innocent until proven guilty is a principle juries follow once there is a case to consider. Investigators follow evidence. To follow evidence, they have to get access to it.

To find something, you have to look. The sooner the better.

"I spoke to the crown prince, so you have that," the president went on. "He said he and his father knew nothing about it." The president said more in the same vein.

I have watched four people when each was sentenced to death. Those trials were a long time ago when I was a state desk reporter. I saw others sentenced to life in prison. I cannot recall any of them saying "Yeah, I did it" when the investigation started.

The president does not know anything more than he does because he does not want to know. Either that or he does know and is just playing dumb.

Here is how an administration with a president worthy of the office responded to a similar situation: "This government wants Perdicaris alive or Raisuli dead."

Some say Khashoggi is not an American citizen. Neither was Ion Perdicaris, the kidnapping victim who was the subject of the Theodore Roosevelt administration's famous pronouncement, quoted above.

Now someone will, sure as clockwork, email me that President Barack Obama gave an even more limp response than the current one some other time. Fine. At least Obama did not play dumb two weeks later.

The Saudis have money and buy both bombs and luxury condos. The party in power does not want a diplomatic crisis raising gas prices just before an election. That is where we are now.

Commentary on 10/20/2018

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