Journalist Jamal Khashoggi murdered by 'ally' Saudi Arabia

Is one life worth losing billions of dollars in munitions sales? That is the question in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a prominent Saudi journalist and critic of the dynastic regime that rules that nation with an iron grip.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is the man in the center of it all. Apparently his men lured the journalist to the Saudi Turkish Consulate where he was killed.

Billions of dollars of aircraft and other military deals with American companies are at stake if Trump clamps down on the Arabs with sanctions.

Trouble is, a bipartisan Congressional effort is underway to impose just that - sanctions in some form against the kingdom. Why do we care about a foreign journalist? Khashoggi was not just a journalist, but he was also a "permanent resident" of the United States, i.e., a so-called "green card" holder entitled to almost all the exact same privileges as an American citizen. It is the step before actual citizenship.

He was also a Washington Post columnist, a position hated by both the Saudis and Trump for its unabashed commentary on all things foreign and domestic.

The president and many others lauded the recent Saudi arms deal as a way of bringing hundreds if not thousands of jobs to American arms and plane manufacturers including companies like Northrup Grumman, Boeing, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics and many more as huge deals like this are ultimately jobbed-out, or subcontracted, to a hundred or more smaller companies.

Everyone gets to feed at the trough of Saudi money. Thanks to our never-ending thirst for oil, that trough is about as deep as any on the earth and the Saudi's are willing to part with $110 billion of it to secure state-of-the-art equipment.

America is friends with Salman and Co., mainly because it sees the kingdom as a firewall against continued Iranian interference and influence in the region.

With Trump overtly calling journalists he doesn't like the "enemy of the people," it is no wonder other countries feel they have the green light to kill them at will.

Google "arms manufacturers" and be prepared to be astounded. They exist from sea to shining sea. When there's a war, America makes serious bank.

The killing of Khashoggi will be pushed aside with a wink and a nod as the money pours in. It's called collateral damage by the most callous of us and that would probably include the president and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The answer to the question about the worth of a single life? It has been answered by Crown Prince Salman -  beware to those who claim the emperor has no clothes.