In a report released in February 2021, the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence formally judged that the Crown Prince approved the operation that led to Khashoggi's death in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018. The report cited the Prince's total control of decision-making and the involvement of members of
his elite personal protective detail,
the Rapid Intervention Force, as key reasons for the conclusion. The declassified report is available on the DNI.gov website. UK and French intelligence reports came to the same conclusion. Turkish intelligence gathered audio recordings from inside the consulate on the day of the murder. Reports indicate that U.S. intelligence agencies intercepted communications where aides discussed bringing Khashoggi back by force or a comment by MBS that if Khashoggi couldn't be enticed home, he would go after him "with a bullet" (though analysts noted this might be a metaphor for silencing him). Another report mentioned a member of the hit team made a call to an aide in MBS's inner circle saying "tell your boss the deed was done".
15 of the19 9/11 bombers were from Saudi and a further US report has highlighted that the funding was from Saudi sources. Plus evil personified, bin Laden, was born in Riyadh.
If you replaced the following,
I think it is better policy to work with the Saudis and keep them close
with
I think it is better policy to work with the Saudis for their oil, their investment [look how much Kusher has received] and their buying of military arms, then i agree with you. The UK are doing exactly the same thing. It is just the way the world is, i went to a lecture from a former British Ambassador and he said if we only did business with nice people then we would no business at all. While you could also quote "The enemy of my enemy is my friend".
All Western countries are the same, we have a political system that runs along the lines of 'Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others' [
Groucho Marx - love Groucho, he was a real wordsmith]. Same with many country's international relations, reality bites and you have to turn a blind eye. Now for me an interesting question is 'What would they have to do to change that situation?'
in answer to your question about was it the right question, i think the answer is yes, not only for above reasons, but they are journalists and it is their job to ask questions, you may not like the questions, but i want to live in a society where we have people willing to ask those type of questions. If not then you are in Russia, North Korea, Turkmenistan, Iran, Myanmar, oh and Saudi Arabia.