Credibility

The Saudis have shifted versions of the death of the Washington Post journalist several times. Now they say he died in a fight in their consulate in Turkey. The world is skeptical and should be. Left unexplained is why the country sent 15 men to capture one. If the Turkish story is correct, one of the men is a medical doctor who was carrying a bone saw, presumably to cut up the corpse. Why too did one of the men change into the journalist’s clothes and depart from the consulate? The Saudis are learning the downside of murderous control of the press and a lack of transparency. The world is repulsed by what happened. It was the action of a dictator. Where Saudi Arabia goes now as a country is unclear. It is stifling dissent internally and closing itself off from the world.