WASHINGTON, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently lashed out at the U.S. Congress over the bipartisan proposal to take more actions to punish Saudi Arabia over the death of a Saudi journalist, Jamal Khashoggi.
According to an article written by Pompeo and sent to the media by the State Department right before Pompeo's briefing to the Senate on Wednesday, the U.S. top diplomat said "the Trump administration's effort to rebuild the U.S.-Saudi Arabia partnership isn't popular in the salons of Washington, where politicians of both parties have long used the kingdom's human-rights record to call for the alliance's downgrading."
The death of Khashoggi has "heightened the Capitol Hill caterwauling and media pile-on," he noted in an unusually surly tone. "Is it any coincidence that the people using the Khashoggi murder as a cudgel against President Trump's Saudi Arabia policy are the same people who supported Barack Obama's rapprochement with Iran?"
Warning that "degrading U.S.-Saudi ties would be a grave mistake for the national security of the U.S. and its allies," Pompeo also said that "abandoning or downgrading the U.S.-Saudi alliance would also do nothing to push Riyadh in a better direction at home."
U.S. media reported that the Senate was to vote later Wednesday on ending U.S. assistance for the Yemen conflict. Other lawmakers said they wanted to impose further sanctions against Saudi Arabia well beyond those that Washington has inflicted on 17 Saudis allegedly involved in the killing.
Khashoggi has been missing since he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. The Saudi authorities said Khashoggi died in a "brawl" in its consulate.
After releasing the results of its initial investigation, the Saudi Public Prosecution announced that 18 Saudis were arrested for their alleged connections with the killing.
The U.S. Congress has urged a thorough investigation into the murder of Khashoggi, and threatened to take more actions against Saudi Arabia if those responsible were not held accountable. However, the Trump administration has been reluctant to further punish the Saudi government, citing alliance significance and Saudi Arabia's purchase of U.S. military equipment.
The U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on 17 individuals over their alleged roles in the killing of Khashoggi earlier this month, following U.S. State Department's decision in late October to revoke 21 Saudi suspects' visas.
