saudi arabia and that means really the royal family the government of saudi arabia which are the same thing we're concerned the son of bin laden would turn his guns effectively on the regime would work towards an overthrow of the rogue regime in saudi arabia and to that end what we would call if we were starting not the saudis but say organized crime than last year they paid protection money millions of dollars in money that came direct from the saudi official purpose were paid by princes whom we've named in the book to al qaeda and osama bin laden to make sure that they weren't attacked in saudi arabia the second interesting level is the level of which that ins and we trust develop more of this but the two official investigations found the vestiges of evidence that the saudis in california. produced a sort of support network for the first future nine eleven hijackers the first of the terrorists to land in the united states twenty months before the operation was carried up and just in the last few days i've been able to to develop information that there was a similar support network i

yesterday saudi arabia's king abdullah announced that for the first time in his nation's history women will be able to vote and run for office in local elections beginning in two thousand and fifteen is a huge leap forward in a nation that satori is for cracking down on the rights of women some say this is the latest effort by king ability to shield his wealthy and we'll rich nation from the uprising of the arab spring that has toppled dictators next door back in march king abdullah announced a ninety three billion dollars aid package full of new jobs and services to quell unrest from disaffected saudis who may try to bring the arab spring to the kingdom of saudi arabia so far it appears to be working so what does this all mean is this really a giant step forward for women's rights or merely a gimmick for the monarchy to keep power increasingly volatile middle east or both here to offer her take as a new shade hussein author of a new she's point and columnist of forbes woman out in post and ms magazine and you say welcome home after having read tom paine here you for joining us can you

we were very excited in saudi arabia. i think all the region to watch the elections when president obama won. for me, he's definitely a voice of hope and a voice of change. look at his wife, michelle, my god. she's incredible. yeah. >> i want to ask you about something in the news in the "new york times" in particular this week. you have a strong opinion about this. your husband has been linked with these old allegations. he assaulted a model on a yacht in spain in 2008. >> yeah. >> what is your view of this? it seems a very odd story and he's provided plenty of documentation to say he wasn't anywhere near spain at the time. what would you like to say? >> i was with him the whole time. we were in another country when these supposed allegations happened. i was with him in caane and it's impossible for this to happen. like you said, it's very surprising for a credible newspaper to report such a story without investigation. >> has it been upsetting to you as his wife? >> yes. such allegations will not only harm a person, it

the majority of the hijackers work for saudi arabia. st in part, if not entirely, saudi arabian. the intelligence activities immediately following 9/11 and the 9/11 commission goes out of its way to withhold a 28-page section from the 9/11 commission that was -- is still being withheld by president obama. we can't get the 28 pages on saudi arabia. and yet, the source of the terrorists, the source of the funding, the source of the hostility towards my friends and neighbors in lower manhattan and our nation as a whole is the one that is sold to me as an american as my ally in the middle east. >> that's right. and the obama administration last year sealed a $60 billion arms deal with the saudis. >> so we buy their oil, they get the money, then we want the money back, so we manufacture a bunch of with weapons so they can take the money, buy the guns, and point them at their own people, who have no freedoms. >> that's right. and in effect, in that arms deal last year, one of the biggest in the world, in history, it was sold to the american pe

>> saudi arabia. at the -- he studied economics and public administration. >> and when did he get his money? >> his father died in 1967. all the kids are pretty young, but even osama's oldest brother at that time would have been only 20. so, the family company was sort of put in trust, and the estate was only divided in the 1980's. and bin laden apparently got about $35 million. and i know that because i talked to somebody somewhat privy to the division of the estates less than -- estimates are he had a lot more than that. but $35 million is $35 million. then at a certain point he becomes probably the biggest businessman in sudan between 1991 and 1996, this really intense period of -- in the book, "holy war, inc.," it really was, in the sense he had this huge array of businesses from tanneries to bakeries, to banks to construction businesses, trucking companies, import, export, basically cornering the market in sudan ese agriculture products. but at the same time running these military camps and so, y

when they were flying back on one occasion from saudi arabia and the director of the f.b.i. of the day said well i think they were they were really quite helpful the saudis they get so much of which john o'neill responded. they were just shining sunshine up here and. more seriously. much more seriously pete john o'neill gave an interview in the summer of two thousand and one and said that all that we're trying to find out about al qaeda all the counter to all our counter-terror terrorism efforts would be rewarded if. if we could track back to saudi arabia he said all the problem originated in saudi arabia he then left the f.b.i. resigned from the f.b.i. in the mid summer of two thousand and one and extraordinarily as it was written by a playwright he became the senior security officer for the world trade center and he would die on nine eleven trying to rescue people from the from the south tower. what were the untrue accounts that you know about nine eleven told by president bush and vice president cheney. well untruths were told very soon to the nine eleven attacks in ways t

let's talk about saudi arabia later because there are reports that the saudis are arming this regime here david if i can go to you again we started out with the program with the word dilemma i mean what is the dilemma washington has right now because it would seem to me the more they try to pursue their war on terror and al qaeda in yemen the more it creates terror that needs to be fired you see what i mean it's like a vicious circle. yes i'm not sure that's true quite now after all the yemeni army and yemeni government is fire fighting al qaeda down in the south and we have used drones we have a common enemy and fortunately they've made themselves a better target by concentrating down there with the u.s. has done quite a bit the american ambassador along with his european union colleagues specially the german have tried very hard it's a tough situation it's difficult the president is kind of a difficult target you think you have a commitment and it's gone but we understand that. even if he was helpful to us in some regards in the past is is fundamentally gone and that there has to b

all right, so there are some minor, seemingly archaic policies towards women in saudi arabia. like our blue laws. they're on the bookes, seldom enforced, nod, nod, wink, wink. >> a saudi woman sentenced to 10 lashes for driving a car. >> jon: that's (beep) up ( applause ) why do we let-- why do we let saudi arabia get away with this stuff? how can we put up with them denying women basic human rights and still call them-- wait a minute-- allies and all that. i just-- why can we-- how can we did that and still-- i can't stay mad at you. ( laughter ) that was weird. all right. of course, it's overseas. democracy overseas can be a little messy. it's new. here, america, the cradle of liberty, we're long past those fits and starts. what the ( bleep ) was that all about? ( laughter ) what happened? did those ladies try and drive? what? that's here in america? apparently, that footage came from the march on wall street this past saturday during an ongoing demonstration called, oddly enough, occupy wall street. >> this is what democracy looks like. ( laughter ) >> jon: all right, i gues

which was an easier mark than trying to deal with the complex nature of analyzing saudi arabia? n, you had president bush in the knowledge two days after the 9/11 attacks, in the knowledge that 15 of the 19 hijackers had been saudi, receiving the saudi ambassador at the white house, embracing him, saying, hello, prince, your highness or whatever and smoking a cigar with him on the truman balcony as if there was nothing wrong. this year when we wanted to use a photograph, a white house photograph of that, the former president's office tried to intervene to stop us using the picture. he was very sensitive about that relationship, of protecting the relationship with the saudis. >> personally? vested and protected relationship? >> personally but i think more than that. that short word, o-i-l. with the oil investment question was more important, perhaps, than the truth to the american people. >> i'm going to leave it on that note. full story of september 11th"real pleasure to have you both here. appreciate it. congratulations on finishing the book and having the courage to try to intr

is playing a supportive role in this conflict how to saudi arabia back into this. i think the saudi arabia is a very key ally to the united states in the middle east and we know and it's nothing new i mean you could we could you could go back to fifty years ago to see that when it came to the american strategy in the middle east in particular well the saudis had they were to say i mean they were taken into consideration so considering that saudi arabia doesn't want anybody to intervene in the yemeni internal affairs. considering also that rain is an important ally to the united states but sea is also and contrary to interests of saudi arabia is attached in this context we can see that with the ongoing serious situation in syria we also the violence is there are going on in syria it seems that some countries i would include the united states but also france and the u.k. and so on want to build a pressure further pressure on the syrian regime when you all do you talk and when you talk about western powers are building the pressure on the syrian regime let's address t

of faith in what they can do to get negotiating an end to the crisis and and yemen but i mean saudi arabia isn't the biggest friend of the arab spring the arab awakening whatever term you like and there are reports that the saudis are arming this regime and we have to remember that the united states trained and gave technical assistance and who else who knows what else did this regime after the attack on the u.s.s. cole back in two thousand so here's a regime that is very sophisticated quote unquote in dealing with anti-terrorism and you have saudi arabia give me at least tacit support maybe a whole lot more but doesn't bode well for any kind of democratic values and institutions and civil society i would say in yemen does it. well no i think if we are assessing the stance of the saudi arabian regime we have to start with the fact that it was a instrument in crushing the bahraini revolution system to the perine ruling class to the extent that they physically eradicated the pro round about where the protests were taking place and continue growing their own their own population and they did

what kind of impact has that had on saudi arabia? is it perceived as a threat to the government there? >> the saudis were put off kilter by the arab spring, and especially when their great ally and friend, hosni mubar astepped down-- >> brown: they didn't know what to make of it. >> they didn't know what to make of it. they were taken totally by surprise. they are feeling very insecure because they don't know where all these events going on in the region are going to end. so there has been some retrenchment from the reform program that king abdullah espousing. the government's given a little bit more leeway to the religious police, to control people in public, and it's given them more money, and there is-- there's a less tolerance for criticism. >> brown: you mean as they get more insecure, they pull back on any new openings, particularly, i mean, for one thing that got a lot of attention was women. even women wanting to drive. so things like that, you think there's less room for as they're less secure? >> in a certain way, yes. right

. >>> in saudi arabia, a historic decision expanding women's rights. saudi women will be able to vote and run for office in future municipal elections that doesn't include elections coming up this thursday. a prominent women's rights advocate in saudi arabia says women's voices will finally be heard. she says now it is time to remove other barriers like not allowing women to drive cars. >>> and stay right there, more on this story including reaction in women's rights groups, other ones in saudi arabia. >>> president barack obama is due to arrive at the paramount theater in seattle, washington, this hour. he's visiting the west coast to push his plan for creating more jobs. and to raise money for fellow democrats. we expect to hear from the president before he heads to california later on today. >>> the president also delivered his message personally to the congressional black caucus in washington last night in the nation's capital. washington, d.c. that is. it was straight talk. >> i don't know about you, cbc, but the future rewards those who press on.

. >>> and now to this historic decision by saudi arabia's king, women can vote and run for office. cnn's mohammed jamjoom is in abu dhabi. how did the saudi king make this announcement? >> fredricka, the king made this announcement at the gathering of the shura council, the consultive council in saudi arabia. a council of advisers that the king hand picks. it was significant he was telling them not only could women in the future serve on this council, he would pick more full-time members as women, but also, that they would be able to participate in the next round of municipal elections, nominate themselves to participate in the next round of municipal elections. it's important to point out while the king did not use the word vote, that it's being taken that women will be able to vote. i've spoken to many womens rights activists in the past several hours after this announcement was made they are elated at the news. they say it's about time. it's one thing to vote, but to nominate themselves as candidates in the future round of elections even though the date hasn't been set yet they s

y troops from saudi arabia helped put down that rebellion earlier this year. jonathan rugman of "independent television news" reports. >> it was the revolution that>> mysterious, bahrain's mostly shi'a uprising against a sunni. at least 30 people are killed and hundreds were wounded. >> one bullet. i see his head bleeding. completely senator pieces, many, many, many pieces. completely senator pieces, many, many, many pieces. o >> reporter: now 20 doctorso and hours in treated the injurew have been jailed for up to 15hy years. the hearing in this specialof security court lasted all of seven minutes. the accused are found guilty of trying to overthrow the monarchy, in what human right groups said was a travesty of justice. >> that's the only reason why they got arrested and later sentenced to the a harsh sentence because there are witness >> what we saw was of 20 doctors and nurses, 5,000 who work at the general hospital, were convicted of collaborating withr the hard-line protesters inst bahrain to barricade themselves in the hospital and use it forua their per

protection money don't attack us try to broker a boat that hit the regime in saudi arabia i'm we will send millions of dollars in funds to you that is separate from the evidence on the ground in the united states that indicates that there was actual support from saudis and from saudis with official connections in saudi arabia. the nine eleven joint inquiry which senator graham. coach head. and he was a very hands on co-chair he was very much involved with the investigative they stumbled on evidence that this the first two hijackers to arrive in the united states had had support from saudis living in california. what has not been known till now which certainly wasn't revealed to senator graham who himself had a special interest in florida because he's a two time governor of the state of florida was that there was also a psychic connection in florida and as senator graham has said if there was a saudi connection with the hijackers where at one time based in california or if there was a saudi connection with apply that hijackers trying to fly in west florida then was there also a shoddy

he had become saudi arabia's first celebrity. the saudi's didn't know what to do with him because he stood apart. he said in this real another region between the royal family and everybody else. he was someone to be conjured with. he is not only rich and famous. he had a small army at his command. there'd never been anybody like him and saudi arabia. and alleging he carried around with him gave him standing with saudi's and other arabs in that region that he didn't really earn, but he took upon himself. >> host: we are going to come back. when we do come with a lot more to talk about. in particular, comparisons between your book and the way 9/11 commission reports on the story. we'll be right back. >> host: talking to lawrence wright about his look, "the looming tower." i want to in this section talk about the comparisons between the two stories as they are told. they provided different portrait, not just a bin laden but the entire movement. for example, there is barely mentioned of the role of zawahiri, the jihad movement aren't

why don't you go find ray mizlah, a supervisor in saudi arabia. he works at dupont. i called him up. hi, i'm murray weiss, i write for "the post" i'm doing a book on owe john o'neill. yeah, i'm the on-scene commander and he talked about it. he told me what happened. how the saudis stood in his way. how they wouldn't let them leave the ground. i know something about the kobar towers now. and we chitchatted, it was very insightful. now i'm making small talk. did you go to dupont after you were in the f.b.i.? no, no, what did you do? i went to the c.i.a. you went to the c.i.a.? what did you do at the c.i.a.? i was a director of worldwide security. i'm like whoa! talk about hitting the bonanza. we chitchatted about that. and thanks to talking to me, we went to dupont after they started working at the c.i.a. no, no, what did you do then? director of national security council at the white house. i'm like whoa, whoa, whoa. and he's start shedding some light of what's going on in the white house and meanwhile, now i didn't have some -- with all due respect to the f.b.i., i d

were true we cannot forget saudi arabia both were supporting the taliban massively but there was this this dissolution because of the arrogance and the dominance and pakistan of the i so i always sought to run afghanistan and you know afghans don't take kindly to outsiders regardless whether the americans or al qaida. so this was building up with the russians or anyone else a list of thirty forty players this. and so this is growing and mustard warrant us about this. and when i. assassinated killed in a suit september ninth one of the reasons was to give a present because they'd already taken eighty percent of the country and most of us was the last significant commander to resist. but they were also afraid that the taliban were in the process of collapsing and that this might have happened but this was ignored by the bush administration and by blair tony blair in the u.k. and after nine eleven. but you have remember the taliban were primarily illiterate people called taliban that means scholars they weren't scholars they were illiterate. you had a leadership perhaps of thirty forty p

way for women to change and to drive the change in saudi arabia? >> i agree with what you just said. women have to drive the change and not to receive it. woman should proficiently do great to prove that empowering them is really a success story. i think the voice of women has really been asking for a lot of rights. now they are very much part of the job market. they are into business growing massively. so i think they should fight for their rights. not fighting in a negative way, but really asking and proving that they deserve that. >> given all the societal barriers, we have seen the sentence for the woman driver. how do they break these barriers and really drive the change in saudi arabia? >> i believe that still there will be a lot of social barriers. it's definitely not about religion. it's about social barriers. and starting to move forward will open the doors at least for people who can do that. and it will come later in the future that people will see there's no harm in this. this will increase economic development, remove a lot of social b

understanding as to why it is we cannot get an explicit res resolution of the obvious association between saudi arabia and these terrorists? >> one can speculate as to the reason as to why president bush wanted the the saudi information covered up. the reason, i think, is that the oil connection proved more important than finding out the truth about 9/11. but what's important now is that what we know has been redacted, has been withheld, should be released. >> and this is where i want to end it. there is more information available about what the relationships are. so we're not all subjected to my idle speculation or anybody else's, senator graham, tell us what information is that actually exists and how we might acquire it? >> well, one, in the final report of the congressional inquiry, there was a chapter which primarily related to the saudi role of 9/11 that was totally censured. every word of the chapter has been withheld from the public. some of the other questions that we ought to be asking is, if we know that the saudi who is lived in san diego and now apparently in sarasota, received substantia

saudi arabia's king overturned the verdict this afternoon. in a first of its kind verdict the woman had been sentenced to ten lashes. there's no written law against women driving in saudi arabia. but the ban is rooted in religious tradition that claims giving women the freedom to drive would open them up to sins. saudi arabia is the only country in the world that bans women from driving. >>> most people want a better body without having to exercise a lot. and a line of reebok shoes promised to provide that result. but a government investigation has found that reebok can't back up those claims. the shoe company has to give customers some money back. nbc's michelle frandsen has more. >> reporter: the federal trade commission used muscle to stop reebok from making claims? product ads that easy tone and run tone shoes can strengthen and tone leg and buttock muscle more than regular shoes. >> tones your butt more than 28% more than regular sneakers -- >> reporter: ftc announced it was settling a class action lawsuit with reebok and creating a fund

saudi arabia is a male-dominated and conservative society. women are banned from driving out of concern that the free movement of women could lead to immoral behavior. on tuesday a court in jeddah in the western part of the kingdom imposed a sentence of ten lashes against a woman who broke the taboo. officially, the woman is to be flogged for driving without a license. in recent months a number of women have protested against the ban, posting photographs and videos on the internet showing themselves driving. they have been inspired by the protests and calls for greater democracy that have swept through other countries in the arab world in recent months. >> translator: let's drive cars and show our driving videos. we can inspire other women in that way. >> last sunday king abdullah announced that women would be allowed to vote in municipal elections. >> translator: women should take important roles in different parts of our society. >> but two days later, the court in jeddah handed down the flogging sentence. religious hardliners angered by th

is country taking so i mean saudi arabia is the fifty second state many ways some so them to make a statement like that is clearly absurd that they're trying to maintain a little bit of credibility because they are under pressure from the initiatives of country like turkey they're under pressure from the possible positions that might evolve in egypt and so they're near clearly trying to maintain a little detachment and they may personally feel outraged by the conduct and behavior of the united states towards palestine but to talk about a break between saudi arabia and the us is completely absurd so let's talk about kind of this other aspect of the report we just you know we saw one back in israel a few weeks ago and we are starting to see a lot of christian evangelicals fighting for israel some have said that you know wanted us lobby apac has the money but it's the christians the evangelicals who often produce the votes so i guess i want to get your take on this role in the evangelical christian community is this new and what's behind it. well it's not exactly new because because th

saudi arabia is a male dominated and conservative society. women are banned from driving out of concern that the free movement of women could lead it immoral behavior. on tuesday a court in the western part of the kingdom imposed a sentence of ten lashes against a woman who broke the that boo. the woman is to be flogged for driving without a license. in recent monthes a number of women have protested against the ban, posting photographs and videos on the internet showing themselves driving. it is inspired by protests and calls for greater democracy that swept through other countries if the arab world in recent months. if rs. >> translator: let's drive cars and show our driving videos. we can inspire other women in that way. >> last sunday, the king announced that women would be allowed to vote in municipal elections. >> translator: women should take important roles in different parts of our society. >> but two days later, the court in jetta handed down the flogging sentence. religious hard liners angered by the king's decision to give women t

the interest directed at president saleh, who is been in saudi arabia since june, recovering from an assassination attempt. let's get the story. >> the second day of deadly violence in the yemeni capital. the street battle is bringing to an end what is effectively a political stalemate lasted for months. the protesters have been trying to extend the area where they have been camping in thousands, demanding that these long time yemeni ruler, president saleh, leave office for good.

in saudi arabia, women can vote and run for office now. hammed is joining us. >> kyra, by saudi standards, a historic moment yesterday when king abdullah announced that women would be able to party in the next round of muse nis pal elections. they would be able to nominate themselves as candidates, appointed as full members of the consultive counsel in two years' time. his remarks interpreted saying that women would be given the right to vote. he didn't say vote. he said they would be able to nominate themselves and nominate other candidates in saudi arabia for the municipal elections. that having been said though, yesterday the mood from women's rights agent vis was pure elation. over joyed. said this was the moment that had come. today i spoke to other female rights activists from saudi arabia and became disappointed. look, at best, this is four years down the line, if next round of elections. anything can happen in that time. the conservative wing of the government could try to reverse the decision, take it out of the women's hands befor

we're talking about what saudi arabia does, but canada's providing twice what saudi arabia is providing to the united states. tell me about the interconnectedness of our two economies when it comes to energy. >> in most sectors we are the two most integrated economies in the world. you ask me specifically about energy. i think what americans need to understand about the energy relationship with canada is not simply that t we're integrated d we're america's biggest energy supplier, but we arehe only country in the world that i a growing supplier of energy, that is a secure and dedemocratic country, and that's energy sector is based on market principles, ratherhan strategic objectives. and so we're not only the biggest partner of thee united states, we are far and away the most secure partner of the united states and the friendliest partner of the united states. >> as your fortunes rise there's an economic rivalry between the two countries on one level, because peoeople don't necessary understand how important the relationship is. >> well, between canada and the united states, i mean, we

demonstrations earlier this year bahrain was accused of opening fire on its own armed citizens in february saudi arabia sent its national guard into help driving arment vehicles made by be a systems the u.k.'s largest defense company its products on display here would be at home in any bond film this time can alter its temperature to change its infrared appearance but like the british government a company can't change its spots it says there are countries that were still too but that doesn't include any here if a country has been invited by the british government here it's it's probably going to be on the list of countries who are of the celtics it. makes sense. he is right to sell to say rich regimes like bahrain that have rigorous democratic process. that will travel because. these protesters from the start the arms fair coalition they're. it's going ahead despite the recent crackdowns in libya and egypt both former customers of britain using their purchases against