The Eighth Pillar: Why the sudden emphasis on the Khashoggi file?

A few days ago, I intended to write about an interesting piece of news from our beloved neighbor Jordan that caught me by surprise. Two Jordanian ministers were asked to submit their resignations after attending a dinner at a restaurant with the total number of attendees exceeding the maximum number permitted at a single table, and thus, breaching COVID-19-related defense orders.

Some of you may be wondering why this incident caught me by surprise. The answer is directly related to my homeland, Iraq. I come from a country where politicians brazenly hold election celebrations with hundreds of attendees and no one bats an eye or questions why the rules do not apply to all citizens equally.

In this Dec. 15, 2014, file photo, Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi speaks during a news conference in Manama, Bahrain. (AP)

During the past few days, the media was taken by storm yet again due to the latest declassified report regarding the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. We have witnessed President Joe Biden with his Secretary of State Blinken and other government officials stand before reporters and bemoaning the loss of freedoms and the lack of democracy. Allow me to emphasize that I am in no way belittling the heinous murder of Khashoggi, and I can assuredly say that I am always sympathetic stand in solidarity with all those suffering from injustice and have lost their lives in the process, whether it is Jamal Khashoggi or anyone else. However, allow me to be skeptical about the sincerity of Biden’s sentiments. In Iraq, we have lived through ceaseless violence, bloodshed, and assassinations, and not once did we see Biden, or any US official for that matter, make a statement denouncing these murders and injustices. In fact, during the presidency of Barack Obama, former Vice President Biden believed that Iraq without Nuri al-Maliki would perish, and that is why he proposed the idea of dividing Iraq. At that time, hundreds of Iraqi academics were killed and great minds were lost, yet I did not see the former vice president bat an eye. Did Biden and Obama believe that these highly qualified individuals died of natural causes?

For years, we have become accustomed to American silence regarding what is happening in Iraq. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have arrogantly decided that our helpless countries will only be ruled by the Muslim Brotherhood and that the time has come to allow religious parties to participate in politics. America’s blatant disregard for human loss has been evident the moment they embraced figures like al-Maliki, al-Ghannouchi, and al-Shater.

The actions carried out by the Obama administration along with its most prominent official, Mr. Joe Biden, in Iraq, Egypt, and Libya prove that this administration wanted to keep these countries in complete disarray and neck-deep in sectarian wars. Some of you may find my theory far-fetched and that there is no way that Joe Biden can be considered a conspirator. However, allow me to emphasize that he has been conspiring against Iraq the moment he gave Nuri al-Maliki a mandate to place his tanks in front of politicians who oppose him, and gave the green light to the State of Law Coalition to take control.

It is safe to say that neither the number of Iraqi casualties nor the extent of the havoc caused by the Obama administration is enough to provoke American sentiments. In fact, the blood of thousands of Iraqis had been spilled and we have not seen Biden make any similar statements or express any sorrow. It has become evident that, for Americans, bloodshed has different considerations depending on who does it and how they align with American interests.

This piece was originally published in, and translated from, Iraqi outlet al-Mada.

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