Skip to main content

tv   CNN Special Program  CNN  March 10, 2019 8:00pm-9:00pm PDT

8:00 pm
>> george wr bush has the chanc to step out from his father's shadow. >> tonight the battle has been joined. >> that was bush speech for we're going to throw that man out of kuwait whether he likes it or not. the following is a cnn special report. america's steadfast ally -- >> extraordinary friendship and relationship -- >> directly into the world trade center -- >> at times spawned america's deadliest enemies. osama bin laden, saudi. thousands of isis fighters, saudi.
quote
8:01 pm
these are america's friends? >> they are not our allies. >> the crown prince is a wrecking ball. >> that prince, mohammad bin salman. >> he is dangerous. >> accused of involvement in the murder -- >> outrage. >> -- of a "washington post" journalist. >> khashoggi's body was dismembered -- >> actually brought a bone saw into the consulate -- >> chopped up into small pieces -- >> but that crown prince, mbs, is changing saudi arabia. >> a new era, new age. >> this man is extremely popular. >> in one of the most repressive countries in the world, an
8:02 pm
authoritarian, absolute monarchy. all of a sudden some simple, everyday freedoms -- >> i'm excited. >> america and the saudis have had a deal. >> just keep your pumps open, your prices low, and you can do whatever you want out back. >> we remember jamal khashoggi! >> but can america forgive a hideous crime? >> why would you bring a bone saw to an interrogation? >> in saudi arabia, almost nothing is what it seems. to find the real story here, you have to go beneath the surface. about one mile beneath to be precise.
8:03 pm
there's more oil in saudi arabia than almost anywhere else on earth. when oil was first discovered, legend has it the king said, cap the well. too much money brings trouble. then -- ♪ he got over it. ♪ money money money money oil brought with it fantastic wealth. >> they make a billion dollars a day. >> this is the prince's palace. 317 rooms. >> there are thousands of saudi princes. they blow gigantic sums all over the world. ♪ from sunup sundown >> we counted at least seven huge saudi yachts. >> oil money buys million-dollar prizes for camel races. and expensive cars you can crash
8:04 pm
for fun. but most importantly, oil carved a country out of the desert. modern cities sprang out of the sand in just decades. there's only one other force as powerful as oil in saudi arabia. religion. saudis practice the most extreme form of islam in the world. >> article 1 says the sayings of the prophet are the constitution of this country. >> sharia is the only law. women are rendered virtually invisible. black ghosts.
8:05 pm
>> domination. men have dominated women. there's this sense that any mixing between men and women is fraught with the potential for evil to happen. >> women have the status of children. by law their husbands or fathers are their guardians. some clerics give men a free hand to beat women. mohammad al arifyi counsels young men on the right way to hit their wives. "lightly with the hand," he says, "and not in the face." if beating does not keep a wife in line, men can download a wife-tracking app on their phones. created by the saudi government, the app will send out a text alert if a wife heads for the airport or the border. >> testosterone is a dangerous drug. it's this view of women as both children and as chaotic sexual beings.
8:06 pm
>> the app is called absher, arabic for "your wish is my command." this men need more than one app because they have more than one wife. there are reportedly more than 1 million saudis in polygamous marriages. there are no churches in saudi arabia. christians pray in secret. >> we have secret churches there. house churches. >> practicing christianity is against the law. so is every other religion. except islam. >> it is a tough place to be a christian. >> even tougher to be jewish. "we must kill all the jews" says the so-called religious scholar. textbooks published just last year teach the jews are cowardly, devious. another evil in saudi arabia, music. ♪
8:07 pm
heresy. movies have been considered heresy too. if you complain publicly about any of it, any government stricture, you may be arrested. foes of the government can be tortured, even beheaded. >> saudi arabia lives a bizarre double life. fabulously rich. drenched in oil. it is at the same time handcuffed by extremist islam. the saudis are deeply conflicted. but then so are we. because their story is intertwined with ours. the closest ally of this strange desert kingdom has been america,
8:08 pm
the world's most open democracy, where freedom of religion is enshrined in the constitution. why? "new york times" columnist thomas friedman put it succinctly. >> guys, here's the deal. just keep your pumps open, your prices low, and don't bother the yahudis too much, and you can do whatever you want out back. >> out back. that's where you'd find the medievalism, the extremist rhetorics, the clerics, the hatred of other religions. >> it's my view, 9/11, we got hit with the distilled essence of everything that was going on out back. >> osama bin laden and 15 of the 9/11 hijackers, all saudis. more isis soldiers come from saudi than from anywhere else in the middle east.
8:09 pm
for years america has been desperate for a new day in saudi arabia. >> welcome to the stage, ladies and gentlemen, his royal highness -- >> enter 33-year-old crown prince mohammad bin salman. he is unlike any saudi ruler the world has seen before. mbs effectively took over from his father, king salman, two years ago. suddenly everything in saudi arabia seemed to change. >> right away he looks like a breath of fresh air. and he's forceful. ♪ >> remember music was evil? ♪ but mariah carey performed here in january.
8:10 pm
>> he was beginning to do something i hadn't seen from any saudi leader, ever. >> his reforms inside saudi arabia have been revolutionary. >> he says, i am not going to leave this life until i see the entire middle east in the first rank of nations. >> movies were heresy? but then the crown prince opened a movie theater. >> don't freeze. >> i never freeze. >> watching "black panther" were men and women sitting together. that's dramatic change. >> this man is extremely popular. >> here it is, ladies and gentlemen, here in front of the amc theater. >> we've just begun to actually fight the war of ideas. >> hi! >> women were finally allowed to drive. mbs stripped the dreaded religious beliefs of much of
8:11 pm
their power. he arrested some of the crazy clerics. al a-rifi, the wife-beating advice giver, was among them. saudi arabia is changing. but even as it does, there is something else going on. >> massive purge of princes, all arrested by a man who would be king. >> mbs imprisoned hundreds of princes and wealthy businessmen at the riyadh ritz-carlton, of all places. >> we drive in under police escort -- >> it was called a crackdown on corruption. >> no one enters here now without official permission. >> what appeared to be cell phone video emerged showing a chaotic scene in one of the world's fanciest hotels. >> and it was a shakedown power play of all his potential rivals. >> i think it was really about control. >> there were reports of torture and one death which the
8:12 pm
government denied. meanwhile, even as mbs gave women the right to drive, saudi police arrested the leaders of the right to drive movement. and again there are credible reports that some of the women were tortured. >> it's a new level of aggression. it's a new level of brutality that has been unprecedented. >> this is an authoritarian absolute monarchy. >> there was one world leader who loved the prince's style. donald trump. a president with no previous foreign policy experience saw saudi arabia as the linchpin of his middle east plan. >> donald trump had no ambassador in saudi arabia. he did not understand the religious dynamics. he did not understand, i don't think, the regional dynamics. >> he put his son-in-law, jared kushner, in charge of it all. >> this policy was being run on
8:13 pm
jared kushner's whatsapp directly with mohammad bin salman. and jared kushner had no clue about the internal dynamics of saudi arabia, let alone how to manage such a young man. it was flat-out crazy stupid. >> i think it was one of the most incredible two-day meetings that i've ever seen, that anybody's ever seen. >> when mbs came to america, he was greeted like a celebrity. >> we really have a great friendship, crown prince, thank you very much. thank you for being here. >> mohammad bin salman had energy, he had ambition, he was on a charm offensive in the west. >> and he had some help charming america from donald trump's favorite publication ""the national enquirer."" a glossy issue extolling the glories of mbs appeared on supermarket checkout lines across america. >> this "we love saudi arabia, it's a magic kingdom" booklet. >> that glossy magazine was really bizarre.
8:14 pm
>> but the truth about mbs was beginning to emerge. and it was more complicated. >> you are a young -- 29 years old when you became deputy crown prince. very impulsive. not very experienced young man who had some very dangerous, dark impulses. saddam-like impulses, we now understand. >> u.s. officials usually weigh in when allies like saudi arabia go off course. >> they need us to draw red lines. and what they've all needed always over the years was to be able to say to their cabinet or their advisers, i'd love to do that crazy thing you want me to do, i'd love to do that, my heart's with you, but the american secretary of state broke my arm. if we don't play that role, these guys will drive right over the cliff. and that's exactly what happened, fareed. >> that cliff was, of course, the murder of "washington post" columnist jamal khashoggi. >> an international murder mystery pitting the u.s. against its key ally, saudi arabia.
8:15 pm
>> it began in the dead of night. october 2nd of last year. a private saudi plane landed in istanbul. >> the turks say assassins waiting for him inside the consulate -- >> jamal khashoggi had an appointment there that day. >> he is a saudi journalist, vocal critic of crown prince mohammad bin salman. >> he is creating an environment of intimidation and fear. >> khashoggi was well connected with ties to some senior royals. he had been treated well at the consulate before. so at the appointed time, he went inside. what follows is from an audiotape described to cnn. >> within moments of his fateful steps into the consulate, khashoggi recognizes someone. >> mahereb matreb, a former intelligence official close to the crown prince, mohammad bin salman. matreb tells him, you are coming back. khashoggi says, you can't do
8:16 pm
that. and then he's attacked. there are screams. his last words, "i can't breathe." then the sound of a saw. >> the reports from the turks that a bone saw was involved -- >> jamal khashoggi's body was dismembered, chopped up into small pieces -- >> a saudi autopsy expert tells the men, put on headphones and listen to music. presumably to drown out the sound of the saw. a khashoggi look-alike can be seen leaving the consulate. >> same clothes, same glasses and beard, everything, except the shoes. >> saudi arabia vehemently denies knowing anything about khashoggi's disappearance. >> as details began to emerge, the saudis said a fight had broken out. >> the official saudi explanation that khashoggi's
8:17 pm
death was the result of a fistfight gone bad has been deemed laughable. >> finally the saudi government settled on one word, rogue. it was a rogue operation. >> the saudi foreign minister told fox news that this was a rogue operation. >> rogue elements may have been involved. >> they're going to say he was killed by rogue operatives. >> this rogue killer's explanation, this is absurd. >> sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers, who knows. >> the cia said it believed mbs was involved with the murder. >> mbs, the crown prince, is a wrecking ball. i think he's complicit in the murder of mr. khashoggi to the highest level possible. i think he's crazy. i think he is dangerous. >> trump appeared unconvinced. >> whether he did or whether he didn't, he denies it vehemently. >> i would really question somebody's judgment if they couldn't figure this out. >> it was an example of sometimes elements of the bureaucracy going rogue. >> the man who most often speaks
8:18 pm
for saudi arabia in this country is ali shehabi. he runs the arabia foundation, a pro-saudi think tank. >> u.s. intelligence believes that jamal khashoggi was murdered on the instructions of the crown prince. that an elite team of people very close to the crown prince went to istanbul with the purpose of doing him harm. what do you say to that? >> look, had you wanted to kill jamal, there were so many cheaper and easier ways to do it. he was very much a friend of the royal family. he was an insider. he was a prominent person, he was a prominent player. everyone has their friends and enemies. the crown prince has denied it. and there simply isn't a piece of evidence. >> senator lindsey graham says there is a smoking gun, it's just a smoking bone saw, not a gun. "the washington post" editorial page puts it very simply. if this was meant to be an interrogation that went rogue, why would you bring a bone saw
8:19 pm
to an interrogation? >> well, first of all, nobody has shown us that bone saw. >> how was he dismembered? >> again, not to get gruesome, but i saw an interview on television with a doctor that said any saw could dismember a human being. >> why did they bring any saw? >> look, he was killed, and it seems like he was dismembered and the body was disposed of, so, i mean, it's a tragic, horrible event. but you cannot put the stability of a country or the strategic relationship between the united states of america and saudi arabia hostage to the unfortunate death of one individual. >> it's a question that has haunted the united states for years. does allying with saudi arabia come at too high a price? still ahead, the biggest u.s./saudi crisis. 9/11. why did bin laden hate america so much? the little-known story when we come back.
8:20 pm
from the very beginning ... it was always our singular focus, to do whatever it takes, use every possible resource, to fight cancer. and never lose sight of the patients we're fighting for. our cancer treatment specialists share the same vision. experts from all over the world, working closely together to deliver truly personalized cancer care. and these are the specialists we're proud to call our own. expert medicine works here. learn more at cancercenter.com. appointments available now. learn more at cancercenter.com. webut some of us turn outhose dreams...... into action... the bookers. the doers. the 'hit that confirmation button and let's go!'- ers! because bookers know that the perfect place to stay... is right there for the booking. be a booker at booking.com the world's #1 choice for booking accommodations.
8:21 pm
8:22 pm
all of you. how you live, what you love. that's what inspired us to create america's most advanced internet. internet that puts you in charge. that protects what's important. it handles everything, and reaches everywhere. this is beyond wifi, this is xfi. simple. easy. awesome. xfinity, the future of awesome.
8:23 pm
in 1996, osama bin laden declared war on the united states. these youths love death as you love life, he warned. these youths are steadfast at war. they will sing out that there is only killing. 15 of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 were from one country, saudi
8:24 pm
arabia. the man who led them, osama bin laden, was from saudi arabia. isis and other terrorist groups killing americans have been filled with recruits from saudi arabia. how did one of america's closest allies become the home of its most bitter enemies? to understand, we have to go back almost 300 years. to the 1700s. two men formed an alliance in the arabian desert. a cleric known as mohammad bin ahab and a warrior named mohammad bin saud, patriarch of the saudi family. they were the isis of their
8:25 pm
time, preaching strict adherence to the koran on pain of death. their puritanical faith became known as wa habbiism. it is that creed that governs saudi arabia. >> authorities inside saudi arabia have executed -- >> wahhabism starts as a principle that i, as a muslim, can determine if another muslim is a good muslim. if he or she is not, i can proclaim him or her a heretic and that person is subject to the most drastic penalties, including death. >> reporter: wahhabism was only a minor sect of islam for much of its history. the muslim world was shaped far more by diverse societies like egypt. >> oil in commercial quantities -- >> then saudi arabia struck oil. >> 200,000 barrels a day -- the with mountains of cash the
8:26 pm
kingdom eclipsed other muslim nations and spread its version of the faith everywhere. >> what oil money did was finance the building of islamic centers, mosques. putting conditions that ensured that their exclusivist ideas alone would be taught in those madrassas, those islamic centers, and those mosques. >> but in 1979, wahhabism turned on the kingdom itself. >> armed religious fanatics today seized the great mosque in the muslim holy city of mecca in saudi arabia and took hostages -- >> the attackers were extreme religious conservatives. they were appalled by the unholy westernization that the riches of oil had wrought. >> they broadcast their message that the saudi ruling family are drunkards, gamblers, people who have taken saudi arabia away from the true islamic faith. >> saudi forces were so ill
8:27 pm
equipped that french commandos had to be called in to help. after two weeks, the rebels were finally captured and beheaded. >> it was a triumphant and tumultuous welcome fare the ayatollah khomenei -- >> that same year an islamic revolution swept through iran. >> a tearful shah of iran left his country today -- >> ousting a monarchy. launching the rise of iran's shiite version of puritanical islam, the rival faith of the saudis. the saudi royal family panicked and gave more power to the wahabis. >> from the age of 12, she must dress in black -- >> to run the kingdom their way. >> no more. women could not appear on tv uncovered. no music in schools. they basically banned fun. >> one motorist ran out of gas while waiting in line --
8:28 pm
>> meanwhile oil prices went through the roof. >> gas-hungry drivers were demanding answers. >> giving the saudis even more cash to spread their creed. then at the end of 1979, the soviet union invaded afghanistan. a godless superpower had taken over a muslim nation. this gave the saudis a golden opportunity. >> it was a gift from heaven to people in saudi arabia. they looked into these islamists' eyes and they said, why don't you go fight the infidels who just invaded afghanistan? >> one of the men who answered the call was osama bin laden. >> bin laden was always a true believer.
8:29 pm
he really believed in all these ideals taught to him by wahabi schools early on in his childhood in saudi arabia. >> bin laden's father had been a construction magnate with close ties to the king. but osama bin laden gave up his life of comfort and moved to afghanistan. forming a ragtag army of foreign mercenaries from across the arab and islamic world. in the late '80s, the organization was given a name. al qaeda. in 1990, a new enemy caught bin laden's eye. >> more than 400,000 u.s. troops in "operation desert shield" -- >> half a million american troops came to saudi arabia to defend against saddam hussein. >> reports of iraqi forces overrunning the capital of kuwait --
8:30 pm
>> saddam had taken over neighboring kuwait and was poised to strike the kingdom. the presence of u.s. soldiers saved saudi arabia. but it infuriated the wahabis. >> this american service woman has problems dealing with saudi men here. >> who believed that no foreign army should ever be allowed into the land of the two holy mosques. bin laden urged the saudi royal family to let him fight saddam himself with his own army of mujahadin. they brushed him off. >> osama bin laden was furious. he thought that this is the unholiest thing anybody can do, bringing the infidels to the arabian peninsula. >> in 1996, with american troops still in the kingdom, osama bin laden issued a fatwa.
8:31 pm
terrorizing you while you are carrying arms in our land is a moral obligation, he declared to the americans. >> outrage, shock, and heavy loss of life -- >> thus began the road to 9/11. >> terrorist bombs explode minutes apart -- >> bombings at u.s. embassies in east africa. >> who did it and why? >> killed hundreds and wounded over 5,000. the "uss cole" attack in yemen. >> it was a despicable and cowardly act. >> nearly sunk a destroyer, killing 17. >> both towers -- >> in 2001 -- >> -- appear to have collapsed -- >> bin laden's greatest triumph, nearly 3,000 americans obliterated. saudi arabia had created a monster. >> powerful bombs --
8:32 pm
>> after 9/11 -- >> -- ripped through apartment buildings -- >> the monster turned against its homeland. >> the focus once again is squarely on al qaeda. >> mounting a deadly offensive inside the kingdom. the house of saud mounted a vicious counterattack. >> it was a big increase in their cooperation with us. they began systematically to find and go after al qaeda cells in the kingdom. >> but the ideology of wahhabism is still alive across the world. when isis established its schools, the textbooks that it first used came from saudi arabia. >> the narrative that you have to behead and kill anyone who doesn't believe in what you believe, the narrative you have to blow up mosques, the narrative that anyone who's not a muslim does not have any rights, not even the right to live, this is taken from
8:33 pm
textbooks in saudi arabia. up next -- why? >> u.s. presidents have to varying degrees been willing to pander to saudi arabia. >> why does this troubled relationship endure? the liquid gold that is the bond between america and saudi arabia. oil.
8:34 pm
you know, i used to be good at this. then you turn 40 and everything goes. tell me about it. you know, it's made me think, i'm closer to my retirement days than i am my college days. hm. i'm thinking... will i have enough? should i change something? well, you're asking the right questions. i just want to know, am i gonna be okay? i know people who specialize in "am i going to be okay." i like that. you may need glasses though. yeah. schedule a complimentary goal planning session today with td ameritrade.
8:35 pm
8:36 pm
saudi arabia confirms that the journalist jamal khashoggi is dead -- >> every time there is a crisis between the united states and saudi arabia -- ♪ americans ask, why are we friends with these people? >> they are not our allies. >> despotic and brutal regime --
8:37 pm
>> some question whether there even should be a u.s./saudi alliance. >> u.s. presidents have to varying degrees been willing to pander to saudi arabia. in doing so we've conveniently turned a blind eye to a lot of things. it's always been a very complicated relationship. >> complicated, yes. but the reason for it is simple, according to donald trump. >> if you want to see oil prices go to $150 a barrel, like by the way russia would love to see that, all you have to do is break up our relationship with saudi arabia. >> the truth is, donald trump is mostly right. saudi arabia more than any single country controls the price of oil. they have lots of it, and it's cheap for them to turn the taps on and off. >> that fear that saudi arabia, the leader of the opec alliance of oil-producing states, could at any time turn off the oil, that fear always hung like a
8:38 pm
sword of damocles. >> and that fear endures even as america approaching oil independence, because riyadh still sets the global price. in fact, the saudis have usually behaved responsibly in their role as the central bankers of oil. >> oil and saudi arabia were synonymous in the 1950s and '60s and '70s and '80s. >> to understand how and why the u.s./saudi bond has endured for almost a century, we need to go back to how it began. in 1938, american oilmen offered saudi king saud $170,000 in gold to let them drill for oil. >> the arabs were suspicious of these strange newcomers. >> the king was reluctant, but the desperately poor desert country needed the money. so the search for liquid gold
8:39 pm
began. >> the geological crews combed the blistering desert month after month, searching for places most likely to yield petroleum. >> finally, they found it. >> oil in commercial quantities had been brought in after three long, discouraging years. >> by the early 1940s, it was clear. saudi arabia was an oil bonanza. >> about 1,000 americans and 5,000 saudi arabs were employed -- >> the u.s. and the saudis formed a company to share the profits. the arab american oil company, aramco. at the same time, america was having big oil problems at home. world war ii had severely depleted domestic supplies. >> a fresh warning that our known oil reserves will be exhausted in 10 years -- >> so it was probably no accident that in 1945, president franklin roosevelt invited king saud to a meeting in the middle of the suez canal.
8:40 pm
>> an american destroyer brings ibn saud, king of the 5 million people of saudi arabia, to a conference with president roosevelt -- >> the two leaders hit it off. it was that friendship that cemented the saudi/american oil venture. as it grew, american oil executives built an efficient, well-run little america inside saudi arabia. >> growing painfully, they reared a modern community in the desert beside the persian gulf. complete with air conditioned houses, two hospitals, and an outdoor movie theater -- >> all of it, though, was behind walls. because it represented a culture completely alien to the strict islamic practices of the saudis. >> always popular with the employees is the freshwater swimming pool where they can cool off after a round of golf, or a set of tennis.
8:41 pm
>> the saudi/american alliance grew stronger through the years. but there was always one sticking point. america's support for israel. that difference turned into a crisis in the 1970s. >> since first light this morning -- >> during the yom kippur war, the saudis protested american aid to israel and then led an oil embargo against america. >> they will reduce oil production by 5% a month until the israelis withdraw from occupied territories. >> it plunged the united states into a recession. people had to wait for hours to fill their tanks and pay sky-high prices for gas. it was the first major crisis between the two countries. now, as we face another one, the crucial question -- who is the young prince who has elbowed his way to the top of the kingdom? and what exactly does mbs want?
8:42 pm
that there's a lobster i in our hot tub?t. lobster: oh, you guys. there's a jet! oh...i needed this. no, i can't believe how easy it was to save hundreds of dollars on our car insurance with geico. we could have been doing this a long time ago. so, you guys staying at the hotel? yeah, we just got married. oh ho-ho! congratulations! thank you. yeah, i'm afraid of commitment... and being boiled alive. oh, shoot. believe it. geico could save you 15% or more on car insurance. that guy's the worst. they seem to be the very foundation of your typical bank. capital one is anything but typical. that's why we designed capital one cafes. you can get savings and checking accounts with no fees or minimums. and one of america's best savings rates. to top it off, you can open one from anywhere in 5 minutes. this isn't a typical bank.
8:43 pm
this is banking reimagined. what's in your wallet? i think i found my dream car. it turns out they want me to start next month. she can stay with you to finish her senior year? of course she can! [ laughter ] [ groaning ] hey! want to drive? really?
8:44 pm
[ engine revs ] do you think we can do this, rob? things will be tight, but we can make this work. that's great. ♪ [ laughing ] okay... here we go. now... [ gasps ] wait... grandpa, what about your dream car? this is my dream now. [ laughs ] ♪ principle. we can help you plan for that. to be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing it's best to make you everybody else...
8:45 pm
♪ ♪ means to fight the hardest battle, which any human being can fight and never stop. does this sound dismal? it isn't. ♪ ♪ it's the most wonderful life on earth. ♪ ♪
8:46 pm
the king of saudi arabia is 83 years old. it might sometimes seem that the saudi king is always quite old. >> everybody who governed that country was aged and uncharismatic. >> you see, succession in the kingdom has followed a venerable pattern. by some estimates, the modern founder of the kingdom had 45 sons. when the one died, the next-oldest brother took his place. but nearly two years ago, king salman shook up this established ritual. after an interim choice, he installed as crown prince his 31-year-old son. >> saudi arabia has a new heir to the throne. >> a royal shakeup in the house of saud. >> mohammad bin salman, mbs, was an obscure young royal known to almost no one outside saudi arabia.
8:47 pm
now he is poised to succeed his ailing father and rule the kingdom for half a century if his health and the monarchy hold out. >> this is somebody with a great deal of ambition and who has the complete support and faith of his father. >> when mbs rocketed to power, he began to shake things up almost right away. the old saudi system seemed ancient. with senior royals running ministries like earls and dukes. mbs put an end to that, replacing princes with people loyal to him and amassing power personally. we've talked about his dramatic social reforms. >> a royal decree has been issued giving women the right to drive. >> and we've talked about his harsh treatment of some of those who advocated for those reforms. >> rights groups say women
8:48 pm
activists have been subjected to torture and assault in saudi jails. >> but the reasons behind the need for change in saudi arabia are crucial. >> if mohammad bin salman the reformer didn't exist, the saudi system would have had to invent him. oil is running out. their population is going up. there is no time to waste. they have exactly enough time to reform starting now. >> most employed saudis work for the government and are given generous subsidies. >> they can say whatever they want, at the end of the day they can't just bleed out money. >> when oil prices crashed in late 2014, the state was forced to drastically cut back on government salaries and spending. >> that's not a recipe for a kind of stable form of government. what the saudis really want to do is liberate themselves from dependance on oil. and have a kind of productive industrialized economy like the countries of the developed west. >> it is urgent because its young population is rapidly
8:49 pm
growing. >> in order to get wealthy, they just had to drill the ground instead of drilling and unlocking their people. and their energy, entrepreneurship, and creativity. >> the crown prince wants to get more saudis to work, and in the private sector, especially women. >> and women in saudi arabia are hungry. they want opportunity. there are more women getting educated than men because they're looking for any opportunity to actually do something. >> his economic plan is called "vision 2030." >> they're looking at other ways to diversify their economy. one of the natural ones, of course, is tourism. >> just endless potential. >> he has plans for a huge luxury resort in the red sea and a $500 billion entertainment city, neom, in the middle of the desert. it all seemed to be moving forward. but then came the murder of jamal khashoggi.
8:50 pm
mbs lost some of his key foreign investors. >> richard branson said he would freeze ties with the saudi kingdom -- >> mbs should be doing time! >> the world is angry at him. but at home -- [ cheers ] >> he continues to have real support. one more fact that may keep mbs in power is nationalism. >> people would have the sense of belonging to the state because they are saudis and not because they have a particular way of understanding islam. >> saudi's form of embassy had been quiet, the crown prince put it inover drive directed towards iran. >> the new hitler of the middle east. >> absolutely. >> whether they are shea or
8:51 pm
personal adversaries. so far his foreign adventures have been a disaster in trapping saudi arabia in a human rights catastrophe in yemen and drawn into a stalemate in qatar. muhammad ben salman, all within a framework of increasing authoritarian. >> he's our best hope of the kinds of reforms of the government and the economy and society that we want and most saudis want. at the same time, he's the greatest impediment right now between washington and ryad. his president makes it difficult for us to cooperate.
8:52 pm
>> will this balance work? we' or one or more of this ball crash to the ground? i will give you my thought when i return. stage 2 breast cancer. i have three little kids. i can't have cancer. so we decided to travel to cancer treatment centers of america. dr. fernandez was wonderful. he said it was up to me to do what's best. it's about giving her options, where amy has all the information to make a decision that's best for her. we left on day one feeling like we're gonna beat this and this is the place that's gonna help us do it... that feeling is priceless. learn more at cancercenter.com. appointments available now. learn more at cancercenter.com. webut some of us turn outhose dreams...... into action... the bookers. the doers. the 'hit that confirmation button and let's go!'- ers! because bookers know that the perfect place to stay...
8:53 pm
is right there for the booking. be a booker at booking.com the world's #1 choice for booking accommodations. uh, well, this will be the kitchen. and we'd like to put a fire pit out there, and a dock with a boat, maybe. why haven't you started building? well, tyler's off to college... and mom's getting older... and eventually we would like to retire. yeah, it's a lot. but td ameritrade can help you build a plan for today and tomorrow.
8:54 pm
great. can you help us pour the foundation too? i think you want a house near the lake, not in it. come with a goal. leave with a plan. td ameritrade. ♪
8:55 pm
want more from your entejust say teach me more. into your xfinice remote to discover all sorts of tips and tricks in x1. can i find my wifi password? just ask. [ ding ] show me my wifi password. hey now! [ ding ] you can even troubleshoot, learn new voice commands and much more. clean my daughter's room. [ ding ] oh, it won't do that. welp, someone should. just say "teach me more" into your voice remote and see how you can have an even better x1 experience. simple. easy. awesome.
8:56 pm
muhamm let me begin this, i knew jamal khashoggi. 15 years ago when i traveled to saudi arabia to write a cover story, he was one of the people who briefed me. he spent some time with me while i was in the country. >> we have with us jamal khashoggi. i had a television show on pbs before i got to cnn, i invited him to talk about the future of his country. >> he was well-read. a saudi reformer but very much a saudi patriot. i reacted to his death personally with a sense of horror and disgust but also a
8:57 pm
great sadness for a loss of a friend. i have tried to keep in mind some larger factors when thinking of where the united states should go with its relationship with saudi arabia. the first is washington does not have the power to choose who'll rule saudi arabia. the kingdom is a strange country with three distinct features, tribes, religion, and oil. all interacting in complex ways. the ruling families have been able to maintain power for so long because it manipulated the system effectively. if mohammed bin salman is toppled, the likely outcome is the traditional element of saudi government. there are few out there.
8:58 pm
and yet it is also true that he punishes descents and sometimes savagely. saudi arabia tells visitors that they need to understand that the regime is more protest tent. the reality of saudi arabia today is not in its intellectual makeup or modern country. it can only move in slowly and fitfully. the most effective forward for washington and the world would be to insist that khashoggi's death becomes a turning point, to pressure saudi arabia to press forward on reform, religious and social and economic and even political reform. you see khashoggi murder shows, saudi arabia needs to be
8:59 pm
governed by the rule of law and not the wins of one man if it is truly to move forward. it needs to reign in in reckless foreign policy for its own sake. for the sake of ahmad l east that's being driven by conflicts that could last for generations. most of of all, we need to work harder to reverse the forces it had led lose in the muslim world, intolerance and hate. if washington can press the saudi government in these areas, if it can convince mohammed bin salman that the only way to redeem his reputation is to transform his country then perhaps something good can come out out of the brutal murder of jamal khashoggi. it will never justify it, nothing can, but it may ensure that my friend jamal khashoggi
9:00 pm
did not die in vein. thank you for watching. i am fareed zakaria. ♪ the following is a cnn special report. we got extra cameras is case the lights go out. >> this is what impeachment looks like. >> only the cbs crew to be in this room during this. only the crew. >> no, there will be no picture. no. after the broadcast. you have taken your picture. facing

150 Views

info Stream Only

Uploaded by TV Archive on