We know… we’re not telling you how we know
“Turkish intelligence made a tape of Mr. Khashoggi’s interrogation and killing, which they played for Gina Haspel, then the C.I.A. director. Not long after, the agency told lawmakers that it had concluded Prince Mohammed was culpable in the killing.
Because the recording was collected by Turkey, an allied country, it was not within the power of the C.I.A. to declassify a transcript of the recording, at least not without the blessing of Ankara, current and former officials said.
The report was not expected to officially confirm other details of the murder, such as the hit team’s use of a bone saw, the assassins’ request that a message be passed to Prince Mohammed that their mission was complete or the crown prince’s earlier threats to use a bullet to silence Mr. Khashoggi.
Such details are part of the mosaic of facts that led the C.I.A. to conclude Prince Mohammed gave the order to kill Mr. Khashoggi. But the entire set of facts the C.I.A. used to draw its conclusion remains classified to protect the agency’s sources of information and methods of collecting secrets in the kingdom, according to American officials.”
I’m not quite weaned from commenting on the politics of the moment. Here’s a good one. The US passed a law that un-classifies classified documents. But they don’t have to tell you how they know the facts. Huh? Well, we know you did it. How we know, we don’t have to tell you. Oh! It makes perfect sense. Tell me anything. And then use the argument – “Because, I said so.” Ha ha. Ok, I want to believe this. Confused?? Ok! I’ve lost it. They have video tape! Can you believe that? – believe the video OR believe they have video? Meanwhile this video was not made in the US so it cannot be declassified. Oh! Do I remember Catch 22?
Ok! Where are we and what the F’ is all this leading to. It’s diplomacy! This is your first warning. After this you get two more. Then we drone your ass. Got it? It used to be simple: You do the crime. You do the time. I got to say everyone has gotten a lot of press over this. Biden called the Prince’s daddy to complain. No one should lose their head over this… at least no one at the top (head) of government. I fail to see any humor in human dismemberment.
Heroes
It’s a small field. There are about 3700 neurosurgeons in the US, not too many more than the average daily kill from covid. It’s unlikely you have heard of any, much less, those who are heroes to me. Yasergil, Heifetz, Cloward… Ransahoff. Yasergil and Heifetz pioneered early aneurysm clips that revolutionized how we treated the berry (time bomb) aneurysms in the head. Cloward pioneered the anterior cervical decompression and fusion. He kept his donor bone in his refrigerator in his home at one point. Ransahoff, was my training director. His contribution was to teach me judgement – when to operate, how far to go, when to get out. He famously had a penile implant, facial plastic surgery, and finally committed suicide when his memory was failing. I saw these men in their later years too. Fame had been pushed aside by younger surgeons for progress as they were left behind to grow ever more frail. It’s life’s cycle. But once upon a time, I walked among giants. I never expected to be fortunate enough to be among them. They were authors and teachers in places far from me. Yet, here we were, once.
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