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Notes of Curiousity in the Jamal Khashoggi/Saudi/Turkey Case

by | Oct 25, 2018 | Uncategorized |

The death of anyone is a tragedy…the assassination death of someone is worthy of concern for any society.  This particular case is curious for many reasons.  I will look at just of a few of the issues from a tactical and operational viewpoint.  

Washington Post, Saudi Journalist Jamal Khashoggi

Mr. Khashoggi was considered a thorn in the side of the current Saudi Arabian Kingdom’s Royal leadership.  Evidently it was a thorn that they could not live with.  There seems to be little doubt that the government of Saudi Arabia is to some degree, if not totally responsible for this apparent death.  Last reports by that government have confirmed this death.

My take on this looks at the odd tactical and operational components to what we have seen in the media and from reporting.

If you plan on doing a covert tactical operation these are the things done in this case, that you absolutely do not do.

The reported image of Khashoggi walking into the Saudi Arabian Consulate in Turkey


  1. You do this thing in a country that you have a tenuous relationship…
  2. You have a bunch of guys arrive in time proximity to the event…
  3. Those guys arrive under the watchful eye of cameras…
  4. Those guys arrive together, potentially identifying themselves as a team…
  5. The target of the operation comes to a location that is under video surveillance from, evidently, and outside source…
  6. The location possibly has one entry/exit…
  7. Because of all the above, the target is observed walking in, and thus can be observed to never walk out…
  8. Evidently there was no prearranged cover story or activity for this operation…
  9. The post operation cleanup occurs under the watchful eye of the outside camera…
  10. The guys leave together as a team…
  11. The after-action storyline is so weak that it must change from day to day and speaker to speaker…
  12. Each story is as weak as the activity surrounding it…accident, suicide, fight, etc…
  13. I suppose the most important thing is that these people chose to commit an international crime by killing someone…let alone doing so out in the open!
Reportedly these are some of the bad guys suspected in the death
An overview look at the Consulate location

In this overview image it shows a “back entrance.”  When reports came out that Khashoggi was never observed walking out of the Consulate, nothing was said or shown to confirm that he did not leave via the back entrance.

This was presented as a “suspect” van parked at the Consulate location.  Most Embassy and Consulates around the world will have vehicles and vans.  Why is this one suspect?  Possible because officials were at some point observed loading black plastic trash bags inside.

So, the latest reports suggest that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has admitted that the journalist was killed, but the offerings on the reason, cause and method is still murky.  The truth will likely remain in the murky realm.