Washington Post CEO Fred Ryan and former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have squabbled on Twitter over criticism of the late Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Pompeo, in his book Don’t Give Up: Fighting for the America I Love, which was published Tuesday, said Khashoggi, who was killed in his country’s consulate in Turkey in 2018, “was not a journalist, but more of an activist.”
He said he was “on good terms with the Muslim Brotherhood who support terrorism,” noting that global outrage over the killing of Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist, was “disproportionate.”
“A lot of the disproportionate global hype was caused by the media, which made the story more complicated because Khashoggi was (a journalist) and, to be clear, Khashoggi was a journalist to the same extent that I and many other public figures are journalists. and we sometimes publish our work, but we also do things,” Pompeo said.
He added: “The media has made Khashoggi the Saudi Bob Woodward (referring to the well-known American journalist who exposed Watergate), who was quoted for his bold criticism of the Saudi royal family in opinion pieces he published in The Washington Post.”
As a result, Ryan responded to Pompeo’s criticism by calling him “spreading vile lies to try and sell more copies of his book.”
He said: “It is appalling and disheartening to see Mike Pompeo’s book so outrageously misrepresent the life and work of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, as the CIA, once under Pompeo’s leadership, concluded that Jamal was brutally murdered on the orders of the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. Mohammed bin. Salman though As he said.
Americans are safer because we haven’t branded Saudi Arabia a rogue state. I never let the media bully me. Just because someone is a part-time WaPo stringer doesn’t make their lives more important than our military service in dangerous places protecting us all. I never forgot it. https://t.co/jidmb6R6oU
— Mike Pompeo (@mikepompeo) January 24, 2023
The executive director of the American newspaper added that the late journalist, “his only crime was exposing corruption and oppression among those in power, which is the work that good journalists around the world do every day, and he devoted himself to the values of freedom of speech and freedom of the press and adhered to the most high professional standards.”
He continued, “For that dedication, he paid a price. It’s a shame that Pompeo spread vile lies to insult the life of a brave man and his commitment to principles that Americans hold dear as a ploy to sell books.”
On the other hand, Pompeo responded via his Twitter account: “Americans are safer because we didn’t call Saudi Arabia a rogue state. He serves in dangerous places to protect us all, I never forgot that.”
Source: RT+ Agencies
