Khashoggi Killing Rocks Saudi Role as West’s Arab Ally

Khashoggi Killing Rocks Saudi Role as West’s Arab Ally by Margherita Stancati and Gordon Lubold – Wall Street Journal

U.S. and other government’s officials said the uproar over a Saudi journalist’s grisly death has put Saudi Arabia’s ability to rally others against Iran at risk, posing a challenge for the Trump administration’s Middle East policy.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis highlighted those worries this weekend with rare public criticism of an ally, telling a security conference here that Saudi Arabia’s actions were destabilizing for the entire region “at a time when it needs it most.”

Mr. Mattis stopped short of blaming the Saudi leadership for writer Jamal Khashoggi’s Oct. 2 death, but his comments drew attention to how the gruesome murder—and the kingdom’s handling of it—has strained the Saudi leadership’s close ties with President Donald Trump. The Trump administration has put the kingdom at the center of a Middle East policy largely defined by efforts to contain Iranian influence.

The U.S. and other Western governments now are trying to balance the political cost of supporting the monarchy with the need to preserve the kingdom’s role as their most important Arab ally. Arab and Western allies worry the kingdom will have trouble making the moral argument that it must lead efforts to counter Iran, say government officials and experts…

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