News of the News: How Khashoggi Was Used by the Media

Innocent visitors to Washington, D.C., must be baffled to see what appear to be street signs demarcating “Khashoggi Way” every several blocks or so. No such street or avenue can be found on Google Maps, and anyone asking where it is or where it leads is likely to be greeted with the smile reserved for tourist buses stopping at Madame Tussaud’s. Beltway insiders know that there is no such place as “Khashoggi Way.” The signs are phony, remnants of an information operation targeting the White House—in this case, Donald Trump’s Middle East policies, which, at least, seek to point out the phoniness and ineptitude of his predecessor, who set the region on fire while claiming, in a holier-than-thou voice, to bring peace.

Reality ceased to be very important in inbred Washington elite circles long before the cosmic war of Trump and anti-Trump. Yet the October murder of Saudi national Jamal Khashoggi gave the jaded nerves of Washingtonians a jolt, because it wasn’t part of anyone’s playbook. The free-for-all that followed was a chance to see how well the players could improvise off-script.

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