The Rooster
"Okeydoke"
Donald Trump is developing a pattern of disregarding deaths of Americans at the hand of governments if it is not convenient for Trump's agenda.
In the case of Otto Warmbier, his body came home. But, Trump has never carried consequences forward for the death of a young man who was in North Korea as a student. I think the Khashoggi murder is more heinous than that of Warmbier. The results of the investigation by the CIA into the Khashoggi murder is important and should be thorough. The US Congress has a responsibility in identifying this second death at the hand of a foreign government while Trump is President. This is beginning to be a pattern and Americans abroad need to assess their safety.
President Trump mistakenly thinks cooperation in some ways means there is a good relationship with other countries. The example that comes to mind is the return of bodies in storage in North Korea since the Korean War. That is admirable, however, it is also a form of pablum to satisfy a presidential political agenda that does not solidify stronger concessions in regard to denuclearization.
That placating is seen again with the murder of Khashoggi. The murder was heinous and the CIA is saying Saudi Arabia's MBS is involved in this American death. President Trump, in the beginning of the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi, was trying to say he was not an American. There are problems in that the President is not interested in taking a sincere interest in protecting Americans abroad. The peace process engaged between the two Koreas is important, but, the safety of Americans cannot be compromised as negotiations proceed.
April 26, 2018
By Mark Landler
Washington — The parents of Otto F. Warmbier, (click here) the Cincinnati college student who died after suffering a severe brain injury during 17 months in custody in Pyongyang, sued North Korea on Thursday, alleging that it kidnapped, tortured and murdered their son.
The lawsuit, filed in Federal District Court in Washington, throws a harsh spotlight on North Korea’s human-rights abuses weeks before President Trump is scheduled to meet with the North’s leader, Kim Jong-un. It also comes as the Trump administration is trying to win the release of three other Americans currently held there.
Fred and Cindy Warmbier, Otto Warmbier’s parents, contend that North Korea used their son as a pawn in a confrontation with the United States over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. They are claiming damages to be decided by the court.
“North Korea has repeatedly lied about the causes of Otto’s condition and refuses to acknowledge its abhorrent actions,” the 22-page complaint said. “In fact, North Korea, which is a rogue regime, took Otto hostage for its own wrongful ends and brutally tortured and murdered him.”
These deaths will not go away, nor will the people deeply effected by them. President Trump needs to end his cowering and demand respect for Americans abroad.
October 18, 2018
By Bethan McKernan and Julian Borger
Amidst international scorn (click here) for Saudi Arabia’s official explanation of the death of Jamal Khashoggi, friends and colleagues of the reporter on Saturday resumed their vigil outside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, where he was killed two weeks ago.
They were there to mourn his death and demand “true justice”.
In the US, Saudi Arabia’s major ally, the Trump administration remained cautiously supportive of Riyadh. But pressure was building. Bob Corker, chair of the powerful Senate foreign relations committee, doubted the Saudi version of events and said the US “must make its own independent, credible determination of responsibility for Khashoggi’s murder”.
After more than two weeks of stubborn denials from Saudi Arabia that it had anything to do with Khashoggi’s disappearance, statements carried on the state news agency in the early hours of Saturday acknowledged his death – the result, it said, of a “fistfight” inside the consulate on 2 October....
