Expanded my spy movie education with The Eiger Sanction. I can't speak for the novel, but the film feels like it burped out of a mid-70s cultural stew of paranoia, misogyny, and thrill-seeking. Recommended. imdb.com/title/tt007292…
I won't give away the plot. It stars and was directed by Clint Eastwood, who plays a 35-year old (lol) ex-CIA assassin (what?) turned art history teacher who's an expert mountain climber. Hired for a "one last job," the aforementioned "sanction," or hit, adventure ensues.
The photography is breathtaking. The climbing scenes are harrowing. The story is intriguing and the direction taut. But there's some ham-fisted dialogue here that hits you harder than a falling rock from the north face of the mountain. (See, I paid attention.)
The Saudi embassy issued a statement today "in response to a recent media report," clearly referring to our investigation of the embassy. washingtonpost.com/national-secur… First, the embassy's statement, in full. Then some points and observations. 🧵
1.) As our story notes, we repeatedly asked for comment from the embassy. I called, sent text messages, and sent emails, which provided details on what we planned to report. The embassy replied to none of those requests.
NEW: The Saudi embassy has helped its citizens facing criminal charges flee the United States. washingtonpost.com/national-secur… This story is the result of a long investigation. Here are some of the key findings.
Two citizens of Saudi Arabia, Abdullah Hariri and Sultan Alsuhaymi, are wanted in Greenville, NC, on charges of first-degree murder in the stabbing death of Raekwon Moore, who was 22. But Hariri and Alsuhaymi will likely never see the inside of a U.S. courtroom.
Before they were charged, Alsuhaymi and Hariri left the United States and are believed to be back in Saudi Arabia, which has no extradition treaty with the U.S. We obtained the travel record that shows Alsuhaymi flew out of Dulles airport 4 days after he allegedly killed Moore.
On Feb. 1, 2020, a group of top experts convened via teleconference in the first known effort by senior U.S. and international health officials to determine whether human engineering or a laboratory leak might explain the emergence of the virus.
The scientists eventually concluded there was no evidence the virus was manipulated in a lab. But at the State Department, the White House, and in the intelligence community, officials continued searching for the pandemic's origins.
“The White House’s handling of the period between the first known symptoms—those of Hicks on Wednesday—and the president’s infection, which was confirmed about 1 a.m. Friday, is what experts considered a case study in irresponsibility and mismanagement.” washingtonpost.com/politics/trump…
“Trump thought he could go to the fundraiser and keep it secret that Hicks had it,” Republican donor Dan Eberhart said.
“They knew she was positive and they still let Marine One take off with the president. Why didn’t they ground him? That was the break in protocol,” said Kavita Patel, a practicing physician and former health adviser in the Obama White House.
A former Saudi official close to the CIA alleges in a new lawsuit that Mohammed bin Salman tried to have him killed in Canada, in a plot that bears striking similarities to the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. washingtonpost.com/local/legal-is… by @hsu_spencer and me
Aljabri asserts the MBS pressured him to return to Saudi Arabia, sent agents to the US to locate Aljabri, had malware implanted on his phone, and when Aljabri was ultimately located in Canada, sent a “hit squad” to kill him, the lawsuit asserts.
The alleged Saudi hit team was stopped by Canadian customs officials, who, in a grisly echo of the Khashoggi case, were found carrying forensic tools that could have been used to dismember a corpse, Aljabri alleges.