lots of dictators are inside saudi arabia. do you see that as part is part of what is happening here tacit cooperation between parts of the u.s. government that talk about democracy but when push come to shove really don't want it and obviously antidemocratic portions and the antidemocratic saudi regime? >> certain saudi's have not been a cheerleader for the arab spring that has occurred. some of the things that they have done to try to push back, including the items discussed where they use their military in bahrain, they have used as a means of keeping the people passive a couple of devices. one is economic. this year, the saudi government is going to get out 14 monthly checks to all government employees for working 12 months. i think that level of generosity has something to do with the desire of keeping the people passive by improved standard of living. they are also spending some 15 to $20 billion to 500,000 units of low income housing. the second thing that they have done is violence. the use of very public, means of dem

that was the chapter that discussed the saudi role in 9/11. so that is an example of some of the circumstances that led me to have the anchor -- anger that there were important pieces of information that were being withheld from the american people. the second reason i did it was because i came to the conclusion that the way i could tell this story was not representing is to be nonfiction, but representing it to be fiction. where the standards of censorship are substantially lower than they are and you present it as being reality. i'm i said i am a member of the cia's external advisory board, and as such i am required to submit anything i write to the prepublication board of cia. and every draft of this novel was so submitted. and what you now have in printed form has passed that clearance process. this is very important to my wife, who did not want me to take a recess from my retirement to become a more or less permanent resident of atlanta or leavenworth, or some of the other accommodations that are of the federal government, makes available

into the deep sea there to find oil the some some scientists think it's another saudi arabia. or brazil it's the oil is there it's a political question of whether the anglo american oil giants and the governments behind them the military are going to let the let these countries develop that for their own use. this is us in a political little decision this is it's a chia logical question those fields you describe are at the very edge of technological capacity and they may defy even the most strong this political will to do so or even on the model of these which remind all the trees the peak oil thing is a myth that was created by more importation of burning and selling oil than the. maximum prices and you've been very very melody and you've been very patient go right ahead go ahead. thank you a lot of the projections about all demand kind of discount how much demand will be coming from china over the next twenty or thirty years and i think there is soon being a wealth growth in china because of course china wants a lot more energy they're going to import a lot more oil and if t

the saudi reaction -- the saudi reaction to that.re creeping power depds on petroleum and the countries that do it are either unstable or hostile to our interests. that is the process we are seeing played out. the president has to give an address and the talk a little about that. his guidance to me is that he needs to clarify the significance of the event, he wants to add some policy things from us. he wants to show his way to the american people on how we will get to this challenge. let me start again by turning to the debt piddle -- deputy national surity adviser. dave, where are we at this point? >> just to reemphasize, prior to the announcement, gears were really grinding. we had essentially no spare capacity. it will cause actual shortages. now we have supply and demand imbalance is movinthrough the rest of this winter into spring. cold weather is forecast in north america. we have the keating pressure. this is a serious problem which will essentially lead to significant demand destruction going forward. at this stage, the idea

the sunni arab bloc, which i think is also a design of the saudis. provide, i think, more effective resistance by any incursions by iran. it will also play well in the west. so, whether it's effective in deterring bashar, i think is less certain. if i had to guess, i would guess that bashar will go down as a consequence of this and his regime will not survive. >> the united states is also taking action, freezing the assets of syria's largest mobile phone operator and also syrian bank. the sanctions will prohibit americans from doing any business with syria and the commercial bank of syria, and its subsidiary in lebanon. >>> elsewhere in the region, an international blockade and sea ports of moammar gadhafi has led to widespread fuel shortages and blackouts. the gadhafi government accuses nato of bombing electric power stations and pipelines, charges that the military denies. >> reporter: this is what downtown tripoli looks like, pitch-black, except for the lights of passing cars. widespread power outages have plunged entire neighborhoods into darknes

saudi need for all eighty five dollars may speed cut back so this is a cutback in saudi oil production being predicted if the price of oil which is now at about eighty five if it goes below that that's saudi breakeven point due to the financial disaster happening in the west of course the saudi royal family has had to spend over one hundred billion dollars placating their population to keep it from looking like london so the nationalizations of the markets we see at work keeping interest rates at zero that is the countdown to the banking terrorists and their need to foster a larceny at the top end of society is that work in the middle east in that we now have a floor on oil and eighty five dollars a barrel because this is the price needed to placate the riding population for them they are just buying off the riding population with cash as a result of selling oil of course the u.k. is running out of oil due to peak oil so it's implementing other solutions which are going to be dead on arrival you can also see how we are at the peak system that we have at the moment because we have a pet

the saudi reaction -- the saudi reaction to that.ping power depends on petroleum and the countries that do it are either unstable or hostile to our interests. that is the process we are seeing played out. the president has to give an address and the talk a little about that. his guidance to me is that he needs to clarify the significance of the event, he wants to add some policy things from us. he wants to show his way to the american people on how we will get to this challenge. let me start again by turning to the debt piddle -- deputy national security adviser. dave, where are we at this point? >> just to reemphasize, prior to the announcement, gears were really grinding. we had essentially no spare capacity. it will cause actual shortages. now we have supply and demand imbalance is moving through the rest of this winter into spring. cold weather is forecast in north america. we have the keating pressure. this is a serious problem which will essentially lead to significant demand destruction going forward. at this stage, the idea o

the saudi reaction -- the saudi reaction to that.are creeping power depends on petroleum and the countries that do it are either unstable or hostile to our interests. that is the process we are seeing played out. the president has to give an address and the talk a little about that. his guidance to me is that he needs to clarify the significance of the event, he wants to add some policy things from us. he wants to show his way to the american people on how we will get to this challenge. let me start again by turning to the debt piddle -- deputy national security adviser. dave, where are we at this point? >> just to reemphasize, prior to the announcement, gears were really grinding. we had essentially no spare capacity. it will cause actual shortages. now we have supply and demand imbalance is moving through the rest of this winter into spring. cold weather is forecast in north america. we have the keating pressure. this is a serious problem which will essentially lead to significant demand destruction going forward. at this stage, th

saudi arabia, bahrain and kuwait recalling their ambassador.ication the shift to arab condemnation will get president assad to back off? >> reporter: well, at this stage, there's been absolutely no such indication, but this most certainly is a significant move in that arab leaders are finally breaking what was a deafening silence on their part. but really, john, as long as syria has in iran the sole hid so lid relationship that it does have, iran being a regional powerhouse, it seems as if what we're going to see now is a shift in the battleground in syria and that it will no longer 'just be demonstrators calling for democracy versus this dick ta tore yal engine. but one that analysts are saying is increasingly going to morph into an arena for the broader. regional power struggle. you'll have saudi arabia on one hand and iran on the other. >> and what's your sense what's happening on the ground? is the crackdown more isolating or is it spreading? >> it's most certainly spreading. the crackdown now not just confined to the intense military campa

king of dela of saudi arabia has urged -- king abdullah of saudi urged a stop toas the killing. >> every day in syria, more protesters are killed. this is in the east. with pictures like these is seen across the arab world, it seems saudi arabia finally felt it had to speak out. >> arab channels across the region have been reading a strongly worded statement from saudi king abdallah. the kingdom of saudi arabia, the statement says, demands a stop to the killing machine, bloodshed, and calls for acts of wisdom before it is to lead. -- before it is too late. syria needs genuine reform, not promises. but they send armor into neighboring bahrain, precisely to help stop the opposition there. why has saudi arabia used such language now? partly because king abdallah feels a responsibility to fellow sunni muslims who are leading the uprising in syria and taking on heavy casualties. but partly because there is fear that any unrest against autocrats, wherever it breaks out, could inspire their own people to rise up against them. this is still a significant moment. and now the arab league, represen

regime where the saudis intervene so there is some kind of. coordination between tehran and baghdad which i think is disturbing to the united states i think a really really interesting i'm not sure to what extent you've been following sort of how this has been covered on cable news i know a lot of the mainstream networks have been showing this this photo of this twelve year old boy a victim killed in what appears to be an assad. led the raid. you know just gruesome gruesome pictures are sort of a symbol as to perhaps why it was a good thing that the u.s. called for assad to step down what do you think about this i mean what are the messages that americans are seeing regarding the conflict in syria well it's it's there's nothing new about americans being anti regime in syria we have been for decades so it's not surprising that the mainstream media would. portray their outside government in such a negative light and seize on an incident to make that take that point i think the problem is that as i said the situation in syria is very complex and

that has not been the saudi approach to other arab states in general. there were very unhappy to see president mubarak of egypt go. even in syria, the saudis, i think only reluctantly came around to more or less giving up on al assad. it was an important step and a step that pave the way for more vigorous u.s. and european positions on what needs to happen in syria. we saw that most of the arab states did pull together in favor of change in libya. not all of them though. algeria stuck with gaddafi until close to the end. syria is very much preoccupied with its own problems and really cannot play this kind of all role. level not had a grudge against gaddafi and was eager to -- le banon had a grudge against gaddafi and was eager to take that role. that does not reflect what the positions of arab states will be on changes going forward. libya was a unique case because it did not been made so many enemies over the years. syria -- i am certain that the opposition forces are in syria and yemen are going to be very much encouraged by what happened in libya. be

king an kul dual la is the only son of one of the founders of saudi arabia.with sear yarks they would use him to go in and try to mediate. so this plays out on a lot of different levels. >> and you talk about the religious implications here. but when saudi arabia and the arab nations pressure ssyria, might the result be counterproductive in that assad would turn more to tehran? >> in fact there's big difference between assad father and the son. the old man was an ally of iran but on his terms. assad has no other ally other than iran. his relations with turkey has deteriorated. everyone the russians are beginning to talk to him about his legacy, about reform. and one thing that's interesting, the people have gone out chanting in the treats of syria, no iran, we want muslims who fear ala. so i think in fact you have a standoff in the region between this isolated syrian regime with iran backing about and the rest of the region. >> makes an interesting point, the difference between father and son. you were in the region back in the '80s. what's the difference? >>

that was former ambassador to saudi arabia chaz freeman jr. well let's talk about chaos of a different kind the aftershocks from the panics in the streets of london which manifested in the form of protests violence and having looting police for days british police arrested more than three thousand people and more than one thousand of those were charged often with extremely harsh sentences one of those a twenty three year old man got six months for stealing a case of bottled water also in what is becoming a highly publicized case two men in their early twenty's sentenced for years in jail for a facebook page they set up a page they say they set up while they were drunk on it people interested in taking part in a riot were invited to come out of the riot never happened but the two men were arrested charged and sentenced with four hears behind bars a sentence that was praised by prime minister david cameron earlier i spoke to radio host alex jones in austin texas he said it's yet another example of the brother not only being alive and well but wi

and also saudi arabia as the voice for the arabs in the united states would be well advised. and probably president obama's statement was influenced by the fact that the cain of saudi arabia and the president of turkey the prime minister of turkey are both come out and called for the for president assad to reform royally just last question for you are you have extensive experience and knowledge about all these different countries that seem to be having something going on and what do you think happens next in syria as we look ahead you know to that to the next few weeks and months well i think it's on the verge of becoming an ungovernable for president so. i'm interested in. what turkey will have you know turkey is a neighbor which had invested a great deal in trying to. promote reform through president assad in syria it's been frustrated turkey is also a country with a very strong army. a lot of resolve when it decides to do something it does it and i think the turks have put the syrians on notice that they're not going to tolerate indefinite turmoil in the country so i think

jammed down our throats and that's what's fueled a lot of the arab spring as you know happening in saudi arabia where the saudi king said ok we're going to make sure that everybody in a country makes at least thirty thousand dollars a year and everybody has free healthcare that's not what was going on in egypt which is one of the reasons why people were voting in the saudis are are more resources that the saudis don't have freedom that doesn't mean that just does not far more resources but people are not revolting against them because there were precious to much to revolt look this syrians are an example and you know i mean the saudi you know it was those who are worse than assad i'm not saying that it's worse because it's probably not but i'm saying assad is is a good thing and that it's not as willing to give. i'm not i'm not saying that it's worse i'm saying that these protesters are exceptional in that way that's why the president should be slow to get this youth out. wasn't in elections were largely about health care and they were largely about how that was not a democratic process

/saudi relationship, because, of course, the king of saudi arabia and the saudi government did not think u.s. government should have supported the ouster of mubarak. and so there is some tensions that go to what -- how the u.s. hand egypt, how the u.s. has handled bahrain. there's a good level of mistrust between the remaining arab leaders and the u.s. administration, and i think they're unlikely both for their own reasons and the biellateral relationship also to make statements of support for u.s. policy that assad no longer has the legitimacy to lead. >> it's sad to see world bodies just words, when you watch these pictures and hear the stories. fran townsend, appreciate your report tonight. >>> ahead tonight a white house economic adviser says the u.s. economy could slip into recession. what should you be doing to protect your family ? >> and the u.s. government said it has disrupted a heinous child porn network. man: be kind to your eyes with transitions lenses. transitions adapt to changing light so you see your whole day comfortably and conveniently while protecting your eyes from

the king from saudi arabia has been a moderate influence. that came through the white house after the egyptian protests began saying, look, let mubarak step down gracefully. at least let him stay in power until september. the united states decided to go a different route. the king has been a a man who's tried over and over again to negotiate peaceful transitions and has been an ally of the syrians. this is a major, major step. >> as we're watching the boards waiting for the president the dow is down now engineer 400 points. this is obviously a lot of bloodletting on wall street. robin, also the arab spring which you write about so movingly in your book. you're hopeful at the same time some fear that the outbreak, the revolution that we saw is not going to be met by real reform and that islamist groups are going to hold sway because of the conflict between moving too quickly or too slowly towards more democratic forms. what is injure outlook now? >> i think what we've seen in the arab world mirrors what happens in eastern europe, latin americ

nic robertson joins us with more on his exchange from saudi. saudi gadhafi, sent you an e-mail.eral e-mails. what is he saying? >> it started off, i sent him e-mails asking him, can you talk, i want to talk to you. and i was kind of surprised hearing that he had been captured, to get an answer back. he said, look, i want to negotiate a cease-fire in tripoli, a city of 2 million people. he said, i don't want this to turn into somalia. i don't want there to be seas of blood in the coming days and i want help in these negotiations. he said he's reached out to washington, reached out to nato. and this is -- and he wants help in doing this, anderson. >> now he's just sent you another e-mail. what does that say? >> well, there have been reports this afternoon that in tripoli, he was about to be captured. rebel forces had gone into one of the big hotels in the center of the city, to try to hunt him down. and i sent a message saying, so what happened? and his reply was, they didn't get here in time. or they didn't get there in time. i don't know if he's telling me straight up that he wa

saudi arabia needs to give more.udan, of all places, is doing more than seven arabia to help in this crisis, even with all they are going through -- then saudi arabia to help with this crisis, even with all they are going through. the need is infinitesimal, but what that money can buy is huge. >> sean, i'm sure it is the same for you -- i did e-mails in a time i write a story about famine in somalia, etc. i get piles of the males saying, it is their overpopulation problem, they cannot have a government. why should we help? as a congressman, what you say to your constituents? obviously, you are interested in careful federal spending, u.s. spending. what do you say to those kinds of spending questions? >> i hope some of them are watching this broadcast. i say to them that we are our brothers and sisters' keepers. except for the grace of god we could find ourselves in a grave situation at any time, as we saw when the hurricane hit in louisiana and mississippi. how quickly the deterioration of a situation can occur. a cr

that has not been the saudi approach to other arab states in general. there were very unhappy to see president mubarak of egypt go. even in syria, the saudis, i think only reluctantly came around to more or less giving up on al assad. it was an important step and a step that pave the way for more vigorous u.s. and european positions on what needs to happen in syria. we saw that most of the arab states did pull together in favor of change in libya. not all of them though. algeria stuck with gaddafi until close to the end. syria is very much preoccupied with its own problems and really cannot play this kind of all role. level not had a grudge against gaddafi and was eager to -- lebanon had a grudge against gaddafi and was eager to take that role. that does not reflect what the positions of arab states will be on changes going forward. libya was a unique case because it did not been made so many enemies over the years. syria -- i am certain that the opposition forces are in syria and yemen are going to be very much encouraged by what happened in libya. bec

you know, i've written in the past about the saudi -- the official saudi interpretation which i have problems with. and being sort of just endowed with so much oil money they've been able to spread that into islam in a number of countries in south asia. and in egypt it has a presence how much of a presence of a population and how much of a whole i guess we'll know in the months and years to come. when there are democratic elections. fatwa is basically just an edict actually. and islam being interestingly democratic in that sense. any mullah or sort of imam can issue a fatwa which is just an edict on anything. basically it can be any social or political sort of aspect and doesn't necessarily have to deal with peace or violence or whatsoever. it can be fairly trivial things, too. so but, no, i'm not dealing with the notion of fatwa but certainly the notion of jihad. yes. >> i think that every western religion seems to have problems between their progressives maybe and their orthodox. >> yes. >> and in islam, what do you think are the road blocks between those who practice an orthodox v

and you can do it you want with bahrain or in saudi arabia itself but this was the cover story sold to american in european public opinion especially the chinese the russians we're getting brazil for that now they're not buying they not yet so us need to coordinate our operation without them there will be no victor this will be a still nato go for ever and we have international community sort of basically that lantus this powers taking sides in a civil war so when they knew it could call for months or maybe years on that it ok let's try to pick tripoli in one day and they did it because they blew these you could be gone the whole city and the way towards the north is reminds me of i was there at a time because alicia and provisional authority in iraq in two thousand and three this is the same seeing we're going to have a western boots on the ground and we're going to open up. libya for a hard core nor holds bar to all capitalism with no regrets relation of profits you know well let's get their oil western as we can the best contacts possible or not that this is completely quit if th

and withdrawing the saudi ambassador. it was an important step, and one that paved the way for a more vigorous u.s. and european position on what needs to happen in syria. and we saw that most of the arab states pulled together in favor of a change in libya, not all of them, though. algeria stuck gaddafi until close to the end. syria is preoccupied with its own problems and cannot play this kind of role. lebanon had a big grudge against gaddafi and cast its vote in the security council against this regime. that does not predict what the positions of arab states are going to be on other changes going forward. libya was a unique case because gaddafi made so many enemies over the years. syria, i am certain that the opposition forces in syria and yemen are going to be very much encouraged by what has happened in libya, because, as i said at the beginning of this panel, it shows there is more than one way to overturn a regime. i think there had been a discoursed emerging that said, if it does not happen peacefully and quickly

any oil company will play the number one role in the region and the saudis are lower and reports the us won't come cheap for the libyan people. delivered as a promise but seen by many as more of a threat david cameron says nato will stay while libya makes the transition to democracy as allied forces lend support to the rebels to take tripoli to stop the war coalition warns libyans not to expect they're getting something for nothing but western powers don't do this without asking for a paper why is it that the head of the t.n.c. is running off to paris to meet with the french president well of course turkey is one very very important issue which is why the western powers tony blair and others struck a deal with gadhafi in the first place it will be exactly what they're seeking to continue with with the t.n.c. to further explore those oil riches the british government makes no secret of the fact that its motives in supporting the rebels aren't entirely altruistic last year alone the u.k. exported a round forty billion dollars of goods and services to north africa and the middle east bu