Dear Saudi friends,
You need to fix this, you seriously do.
Two days ago, I was writing you that I believed you. I even tweeted to the French minister of the economy and to the French president that France should be at the Future Investment Summit.
But then, yesterday, I went up the rollercoaster again and believed the masses who say that the Crown Prince has done it. Yet, I can tell you, I WANT to believe you, I really do and this rollercoaster has just been unbearable so far.
You might think I am weak in character, but I am not. The problem is on your side, much more than on mine.
In the end, the scenario is now clear in my mind. I don't think your Crown Prince is guilty but if this story should teach you anything beyond what you have already learnt is that your communication absolutely, desperately, frustratingly sucks.
As I said already in my previous post, you lost the battle of the communication in this case because you even refused to engage in that battle. Your silence is what makes you look guilty.
Now, I have watched HE Adel Al Jubeir yesterday on Fox News. That was certainly a good move. But it's not nearly enough.
He explained what happened and he explained that no communication has happened sooner because the investigation was still on-going and "you want the information that you put out to be as accurate as you possibly can, you don't want to put out speculations, or hear-say or gossip."
I am sure that sounds reasonable to you. But see, in western standards, this pushes people to believe this is a cover-up.
Why? Because in the West nowadays, when there is an investigation of significant importance, public prosecution name a spokesperson who reports on the progress of the investigation for the press. It's not about sharing speculations, or hear-say or gossip. It's about reporting in a professional matter, the progress of an on-going investigation, balancing two imperatives, the people's interest for transparency and the public prosecution's need to keep some specific elements away from the public in order not to jeopardize the investigation itself.
In my own country, I am quite sure public prosecutors have received training to report themselves on the progress on an investigation in a professional manner. I remember Francois Molins who is the French republic's public prosecutor, doing press conferences on some cases. It even happens in regional cases sometimes.
Why was that not done on Abu Ghraib, as His Excellency suggested? Because, I am afraid to tell you, most Americans care much less about the horribly humiliating treatment dozens of Arabs had to go through in a prison in Iraq, a country most Americans cannot place on a map, than about what might happen to one American child who disappears in Tennessee.
I think that if you want to be a great nation, you need to upscale your communication capabilities. In my opinion, the recent communication from public authorities were not up to global standards.
The way I see it, and not only on this Khashoggi case, it is paramount to improve the communication of the public prosecution. A lot of the heat that Saudi Arabia gets come from the fact people in the West don't understand what's going on at Public Prosecution.
You don't owe anything to the West, that's up to you, but if you want the West to believe you, information about the status of different cases that the West keeps talking about should be available on a website, in English, in a way Westerners can understand, with information that's up-to-date.
Going back to the Khashoggi case, HE Adel Al Jubeir talking to Fox News, I am sorry, that's not enough.
You know, what makes the Crown Prince look guilty in the eyes of the West is that he hasn't spoken once since the Bloomberg interview (to my knowledge). We have seen him smiling with Mike Pompeo, and while I understand that nervousness may have played a part, that posture was clearly a mistake. A man, a respected Saudi journalist, has died from the cruelty of men who were paid by the Saudi Government in an embassy of your country, there should be no reason to smile.
Your Crown Prince acts as if he was guilty and I am sure that he actually does feel guilty of not managing to stop this from happening in the first place. But that certainly isn't the same kind of guilt.
The Crown Prince should come forward. If he really is innocent as I think, he should come forward and explain what he's gone through, what he was told and how he found out the truth. To the West, it's impossible to understand why an innocent man doesn't come forward to say "I am innocent, I didn't do it, I didn't order for Jamal Khashoggi to die, why would I?"
And he should also discuss this other thing. In the West, everybody says MBS has a temper. Under this idea "MBS has a temper", people put everything from "he got angry and shouted at his team", to "he had a journalist killed because he refused to come back to Saudi Arabia."
It's as if everybody was happy speculating, but the truth, what about the truth?
You know, I too have a temper. I too get angry sometimes. I too have shouted at my ex-husband and called him names in public (In my opinion, he more than deserved it.) I too have crossed a line or two with people sometimes, because I really wanted something from someone.
That makes me guilty of having a temper. That makes me guilty of having a tendency in some specific situations to get angry (and I am working on it, divorcing was definitely a positive step in that direction). That makes me guilty of crossing a line or two sometimes, when I really want something, which is rare. But that's it. Generally speaking, I wouldn't even say I am pushy.
Going back to your Crown Prince, he should clarify that. He should do more interviews for people to know him. I have watched him, I know he is reluctant to do this. Maybe because he is reluctant to talk about the mistakes he has done in the past (that Abu Rasasa story), but those mistakes, precisely, taught him lessons. We are only as good as our capacity to learn from the mistakes that we once made.
I am happy that Saudi Arabia is learning from this. I am happy to see that this story will allow to identify the true good servants for your country and the ones whose strength of character is just not enough. In my humble opinion, Saudi Arabia certainly needs more Adel Al Jubeirs, more Ali Shihabis and fewer hate mongers. I leave it up to you to guess who I am talking about.
And then, I think of this woman, Hatice Cengiz. Looking back, I just cannot believe the hate and the smear campaign this woman had to face. I mean, I too wondered what kind of girlfriend didn't know her fiance's birthdate, but I have still defended her when people said she was suspect because they felt she wasn't pretty enough.
I saw the King and the Crown Prince extended their condolences to the Khashoggi family, but if you intend to be a great modern nation, Saudi Arabia, they should also extend their condolences to this woman because she too quite obviously lost a loved one. And although she is innocent, she will pay a heavy price for this story. I just saw Turkish police had to place her under protection, I can only imagine what she must be going through, probably not unlike what Dr Blasey Ford must be going through. I personally wish those two women all the very best.
You need to fix this, you seriously do.
Two days ago, I was writing you that I believed you. I even tweeted to the French minister of the economy and to the French president that France should be at the Future Investment Summit.
But then, yesterday, I went up the rollercoaster again and believed the masses who say that the Crown Prince has done it. Yet, I can tell you, I WANT to believe you, I really do and this rollercoaster has just been unbearable so far.
You might think I am weak in character, but I am not. The problem is on your side, much more than on mine.
In the end, the scenario is now clear in my mind. I don't think your Crown Prince is guilty but if this story should teach you anything beyond what you have already learnt is that your communication absolutely, desperately, frustratingly sucks.
As I said already in my previous post, you lost the battle of the communication in this case because you even refused to engage in that battle. Your silence is what makes you look guilty.
Now, I have watched HE Adel Al Jubeir yesterday on Fox News. That was certainly a good move. But it's not nearly enough.
He explained what happened and he explained that no communication has happened sooner because the investigation was still on-going and "you want the information that you put out to be as accurate as you possibly can, you don't want to put out speculations, or hear-say or gossip."
I am sure that sounds reasonable to you. But see, in western standards, this pushes people to believe this is a cover-up.
Why? Because in the West nowadays, when there is an investigation of significant importance, public prosecution name a spokesperson who reports on the progress of the investigation for the press. It's not about sharing speculations, or hear-say or gossip. It's about reporting in a professional matter, the progress of an on-going investigation, balancing two imperatives, the people's interest for transparency and the public prosecution's need to keep some specific elements away from the public in order not to jeopardize the investigation itself.
In my own country, I am quite sure public prosecutors have received training to report themselves on the progress on an investigation in a professional manner. I remember Francois Molins who is the French republic's public prosecutor, doing press conferences on some cases. It even happens in regional cases sometimes.
Why was that not done on Abu Ghraib, as His Excellency suggested? Because, I am afraid to tell you, most Americans care much less about the horribly humiliating treatment dozens of Arabs had to go through in a prison in Iraq, a country most Americans cannot place on a map, than about what might happen to one American child who disappears in Tennessee.
I think that if you want to be a great nation, you need to upscale your communication capabilities. In my opinion, the recent communication from public authorities were not up to global standards.
The way I see it, and not only on this Khashoggi case, it is paramount to improve the communication of the public prosecution. A lot of the heat that Saudi Arabia gets come from the fact people in the West don't understand what's going on at Public Prosecution.
You don't owe anything to the West, that's up to you, but if you want the West to believe you, information about the status of different cases that the West keeps talking about should be available on a website, in English, in a way Westerners can understand, with information that's up-to-date.
Going back to the Khashoggi case, HE Adel Al Jubeir talking to Fox News, I am sorry, that's not enough.
You know, what makes the Crown Prince look guilty in the eyes of the West is that he hasn't spoken once since the Bloomberg interview (to my knowledge). We have seen him smiling with Mike Pompeo, and while I understand that nervousness may have played a part, that posture was clearly a mistake. A man, a respected Saudi journalist, has died from the cruelty of men who were paid by the Saudi Government in an embassy of your country, there should be no reason to smile.
Your Crown Prince acts as if he was guilty and I am sure that he actually does feel guilty of not managing to stop this from happening in the first place. But that certainly isn't the same kind of guilt.
The Crown Prince should come forward. If he really is innocent as I think, he should come forward and explain what he's gone through, what he was told and how he found out the truth. To the West, it's impossible to understand why an innocent man doesn't come forward to say "I am innocent, I didn't do it, I didn't order for Jamal Khashoggi to die, why would I?"
And he should also discuss this other thing. In the West, everybody says MBS has a temper. Under this idea "MBS has a temper", people put everything from "he got angry and shouted at his team", to "he had a journalist killed because he refused to come back to Saudi Arabia."
It's as if everybody was happy speculating, but the truth, what about the truth?
You know, I too have a temper. I too get angry sometimes. I too have shouted at my ex-husband and called him names in public (In my opinion, he more than deserved it.) I too have crossed a line or two with people sometimes, because I really wanted something from someone.
That makes me guilty of having a temper. That makes me guilty of having a tendency in some specific situations to get angry (and I am working on it, divorcing was definitely a positive step in that direction). That makes me guilty of crossing a line or two sometimes, when I really want something, which is rare. But that's it. Generally speaking, I wouldn't even say I am pushy.
Going back to your Crown Prince, he should clarify that. He should do more interviews for people to know him. I have watched him, I know he is reluctant to do this. Maybe because he is reluctant to talk about the mistakes he has done in the past (that Abu Rasasa story), but those mistakes, precisely, taught him lessons. We are only as good as our capacity to learn from the mistakes that we once made.
I am happy that Saudi Arabia is learning from this. I am happy to see that this story will allow to identify the true good servants for your country and the ones whose strength of character is just not enough. In my humble opinion, Saudi Arabia certainly needs more Adel Al Jubeirs, more Ali Shihabis and fewer hate mongers. I leave it up to you to guess who I am talking about.
And then, I think of this woman, Hatice Cengiz. Looking back, I just cannot believe the hate and the smear campaign this woman had to face. I mean, I too wondered what kind of girlfriend didn't know her fiance's birthdate, but I have still defended her when people said she was suspect because they felt she wasn't pretty enough.
I saw the King and the Crown Prince extended their condolences to the Khashoggi family, but if you intend to be a great modern nation, Saudi Arabia, they should also extend their condolences to this woman because she too quite obviously lost a loved one. And although she is innocent, she will pay a heavy price for this story. I just saw Turkish police had to place her under protection, I can only imagine what she must be going through, probably not unlike what Dr Blasey Ford must be going through. I personally wish those two women all the very best.
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