Jay Evensen
  • Front Page
  • Opinions
  • Second Thoughts
  • Portfolio
  • Awards
  • About

Rep. Stewart hits wrong note on death of journalist

12/6/2018

0 Comments

 
Chris Stewart, Utah’s second district representative to Congress, hit a wrong note this week when he seemed to downplay the seriousness of the murder of a journalist, which the CIA now says was directly ordered by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
​
He wasn’t wrong when he said the United States needs to cultivate allies and do business with countries that don’t live up to our standards for human rights and basic liberties.
Heavens, we have a long history of that, dating at least to when the U.S. teamed up with communists in the Soviet Union to defeat the Nazis, and proceeding through the Cold War and beyond 9/11. Saudi Arabia, remember, was home to 15 of the terrorists who attacked the nation that day, and the involvement of operatives within their government remains an open question.

But he was terribly wrong to equate the deaths of many journalists worldwide — at the hands of terrorists, local thugs and even murky government operatives — with what happened to Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul. The difference goes to the heart of who we are as a people.

The CIA says it has found convincing evidence the crown prince ordered Khashoggi’s death. Several senators on both sides of the political aisle left a closed-door briefing this week convinced of this, as well, vowing to make the Saudis pay.

President Trump, however, has said he will do nothing, and Stewart told CNN’s Brianna Keilar, “Journalists disappear all over … . Twenty journalists have been killed in Mexico. You don’t think it happens in Turkey and China? Of course it does. And yet we have to have a relationship with these individuals or with these countries.”

I spent much of Wednesday, an admittedly busy day in Washington, trying to get a clarification from Stewart. Late in the afternoon his office sent me this statement:

“We cannot brush aside the murder of any journalist and I have always said that those who are responsible for the murder of Mr. Khashoggi should be held responsible,” it said. “As the leader of the free world, we have to accomplish two goals; defend human rights while also attempting to maintain important relationships with key allies that we hope will help us bring stability to critical parts of the world.  We should always strive to do both.”

Frankly, that’s much better. It at least leaves open the possibility of some sort of punishment for the crown prince, the head of a complicated nation virtually crawling with princes.

But it doesn’t get to the heart of why the United States has to treat this crime as something extraordinarily unacceptable.

The United States weakens its strength abroad if it tacitly accepts a blatant violation of one of it own bedrock principles of liberty — even for the sake of a strategic alliance. That is especially true if a head of state deliberately orders the offense.

It’s wrong because, as any police officer will tell you, ignoring a crime inevitably leads to more of it, and we already have too many journalists dying because they just want to uncover the truth about power.

For the record, The Committee to Protect Journalists has cataloged 48 journalist deaths worldwide so far in 2018. Journalists die each year in the pursuit of truth without causing international incidents. And yet each of their deaths diminishes the cause of liberty and human rights in the world. Each allows official corruption or criminal power to continue unchecked abuses. That is why it becomes so egregious when evidence links such a crime to a head of state.

But it also is important because President Trump has called the media an enemy of the people.

History has repeatedly shown that most often it is the state, or rather the ambitious state, that is the true enemy of the people. I believe that’s one reason the Founding Fathers devised a constitutional system that limits the expansion of state power and the ability of any one person to wield that power.

And so the U.S. cannot afford to send the message that quashing dissent and criticism through murder is OK.
Years ago, I sat in a room at the State Department in Washington with a few other opinion writers. Top officials, including Gen. Colin Powell, who then was secretary of state, were briefing us not long after 9/11. Some of us kept pressing them on why the United States seemed to overlook human rights abuses among its allies, especially Saudi Arabia.

The answer we got was simple. The United States has to deal with the world as it finds it, not wait to form alliances until other nations conform to our ideals.
​
Stewart is right. The U.S. should strive to both maintain relationships and defend human rights. That’s often a difficult tightrope. But downplaying horrendous high-level crimes by our friends sends a disturbing, and hopefully incorrect, message about what we value most.
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    Search this site


    Like what you read here?

      Please subscribe below, and we'll let you know when there is a new opinion.

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    Picture

    The author

    Jay Evensen is the Senior Editorial Columnist of the Deseret News. He has nearly 40 years experience as a reporter, editor and editorial writer in Oklahoma, New York City, Las Vegas and Salt Lake City. He also has been an adjunct journalism professor at Brigham Young and Weber State universities.

    Archives

    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012

    Categories

    All
    Campaign 2012
    Congress
    Crime
    Culture
    Iran
    Oil And Gas
    Poverty
    Steroids
    Taxes
    Utah
    Washington
    World Events
    World Events

    Links

    Deseret News
    Newslink
    Marianne Evensen's blog

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.