Why didn’t Biden punish the Saudi prince?

US intelligence has uncovered the details of the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was murdered inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. 

There has been a lot of writing in America demanding the release of secret documents of detectives. But as long as Donald Trump was president, he did not release those intelligence documents. 

Trump has been relentless ‘grumbling’ when asked by stubborn journalists; He never made it clear what his intelligence had told him about the Saudi prince’s role in Khashoggi’s assassination.Just a month after Joe Biden took office, his administration released an intelligence report into the Khashoggi assassination. 
The Office of the Directorate of National Intelligence released a three-page intelligence report on Friday, February 25. As it turns out, that report was made on February 11, 2021, during the new Biden administration.

Does this mean that US intelligence did not report on the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi during President Trump’s tenure?

We don’t think so. On the contrary, we believe that the intelligence report that President Biden declassified on February 25 about the role of the Saudi government in the assassination of Khashoggi to keep his election campaign promises, is a new report. 
It is necessary to build them in line with the Biden administration’s strategy of maintaining relations with Saudi Arabia. 
Perhaps the intelligence reports or documents made during the Trump administration do not fit the Biden administration’s strategy.

The Biden administration’s intelligence report, entitled “Assessing the Saudi Government’s Role in the Killing of Jamal Khashoggi,” is so brief that some in the American media have expressed surprise. 
The US intelligence report did not mention the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in the Turkish capital, Istanbul, and the fact that his body was dismembered and burned with acid.
 Not only that, at the very end of the report, it was said, “Khashoggi will be killed in the operation against him – we do not know whether these people (murderers) knew that in advance.”

It is clear that US intelligence doesn’t want to mention- Khashoggi was killed in a premeditated manner. 
It is undoubtedly a biased position; In this way, the people responsible for that heinous crime have a chance to look at the crime lightly.

But despite all this, what the intelligence report says is enough to make the Saudi prince fully responsible. The report states:

‘Our assessment shows that Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia approved an operation in Istanbul, Turkey, aimed at detaining or killing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.’
‘Our assessment is based on Prince Salman’s control of the Saudi monarchy’s decision-making process since 2017, the direct involvement of one of his key advisers and members of his security forces in the Istanbul operation, and the prince’s support for violent methods to silence Saudi dissidents, living in abroad, including Khashoggi.’
‘Prince Salman has had absolute control over the security and intelligence agencies of the Saudi monarchy since 2017, so it is very unlikely that Saudi officials have carried out such an operation without his approval.’

‘At the time of Khashoggi’s assassination, the prince probably created an environment in which his associates feared that failure to fulfil the responsibilities he had given them would result in dismissal or arrest. It appears that the prince’s associates could not raise any question about his order or take any sensitive action without his consent.’

‘The 15-member Saudi delegation that arrived in Istanbul on October 2, 2018, was either staffed by or associated with the Saudi royal family’s Center for Studies and Media Affairs (CSMRC).’
‘The head of the CSMRC at the time of Khashoggi’s assassination was Saud al-Qahtani, a close adviser to Prince Salman, who publicly stated in mid-2018 that he would not make any decision without the prince’s approval.’

‘The Saudi delegation to Istanbul also included seven members of the Rapid Intervention Force (RIF), the elite force in charge of Mohammed bin Salman’s security.
 The RIF, part of the Saudi Royal Guard, is tasked with ensuring the prince’s safety, accounting only to the prince, and they have been directly involved in cracking down on Saudi dissidents inside and outside Saudi Arabia at various times before the Istanbul operation.’
‘Our judgment says that RIF members would not have taken part in the operation against Khashoggi without the approval of Mohammed bin Salman.’

‘Prince Salman considered Khashoggi as a threat to the Saudi monarchy and he was in favour of resorting to violence if necessary to silence Khashoggi’s voice ….’
‘We strongly believe that the following individuals took part in, ordered, or co-operated in the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi on behalf of Mohammed bin Salman. , Or somehow responsible. ‘

The Biden administration does not want to lose sight of the close US cooperation with Saudi Arabia in regional politics in the Middle East, especially in the so-called “war on terror” and the way Saudi Arabia is cooperating with the United States in countering Iran.

For the convenience of the Biden administration, Prince Salman is being described as an “approver” rather than an instigator of the Khashoggi assassination. 
But no one is left to understand the true meaning of this approval: the Saudi prince’s hand is stained with the blood of Saudi journalist Khashoggi. 
But the Biden administration did not take any action against him. On the contrary, it is learned that President Biden had called Saudi King Salman just the day before the release of the intelligence report. 
Their conversation was not about the Khashoggi assassination, but President Biden wanted to reassure the Saudi king that he would work to make US bilateral relations with Saudi Arabia as strong and transparent as possible.

Just a week earlier, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin had called Saudi Defense Minister Prince Mohammed bin Salman over the phone. 
There was no mention of Khashoggi’s murder in their conversation. Austin told the Crown Prince that Saudi Arabia’s role as a pillar of the Middle East’s regional security structure was crucial.

In this situation, In the hope of what benefit, the Biden administration released an intelligence report on the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi? 
And the Saudi prince’s hand is stained with the blood of a journalist from his country-why didn’t the White House take any action against him after saying that?
 Instead, they tried to absolve their responsibility by announcing that they would not issue US visas to seventy-six Saudi government officials.
As we have seen, a change of government in the United States does not change its foreign policy. Trump’s administration, which has shifted its focus from the outside world to the home with the slogan “America First,” has not moved too far away from its former Obama administration’s foreign policy in international politics. 
Especially in the Middle East, Israel-Saudi Arabia’s self-interested US policy has been conducted in the same vein. 
The whimsical Trump has not made any major deviations from US policy in the Middle East, except for the withdrawal from the multilateral agreement with Iran.

The Biden administration will continue to maintain the way the United States has developed bilateral relations with Saudi Arabia under Trump. 
The involvement of the Saudi prince in the Khashoggi assassination is a human rights issue that the US administration has always taken seriously.
 But their importance depends on their political gains and losses. The Biden administration does not want to lose sight of the close US cooperation with Saudi Arabia in regional politics in the Middle East, especially in the so-called “war on terror” and the way Saudi Arabia is cooperating with the United States in countering Iran. 
Biden will not take any action that would damage existing good relations with Saudi Arabia.

According to the New York Times, everyone inside the White House has agreed that any action against the Saudi prince for his role in the assassination of Khashoggi would cost too much for US-Saudi relations.