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CNN LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE
Annika Sorenstam Takes on Men at PGA Tourney
Aired May 22, 2003 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LOU DOBBS, CNN HOST: Good evening, everyone.
Tonight a historic battle of the sexes, Annika Sorenstam takes on the men at the Colonial PGA Tournament in Texas. Josie Karp will have the latest report for us from Fort Worth on her performance.
And, the war on terror, Saudi Arabia now says it will do everything possible to hunt down terrorists. The foreign policy adviser to the Saudi Crown Prince will be here to discuss the extent and the possible limits of Saudi cooperation.
And, our continuing series of special reports tonight, "Exporting America," tonight a special report on the visa system that allows foreigners to come to this country and take well paid jobs from Americans. Congressman Peter DeFazio will be here to tell us how to keep jobs in this country.
Our top story tonight a historic day on the golf course that began with a 243-yard drive and ended with a bogey, Annika Sorenstam is now one over par after the first round of the Colonial. Today, she became the first woman to play on the PGA tour in 58 years. Sorenstam's next challenge is to make the cut for weekend play.
Josie Karp is live in Fort Worth, Texas and has the latest for us -- Josie.
JOSIE KARP, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Lou, probably best way to describe how Annika Sorenstam felt when this historic day was all over, was relieved and satisfied. You know she shot one over par and went into this tournament saying she would be satisfied and feel like it was a victory if she shot even par.
But even today with the one over she felt like that was better than par because she had to deal with so much pressure and she was so nervous. The nerves probably reached their zenith right before she teed off for the first time. That was on the tenth hole because she played the back nine first and she said when she stepped up to the tee box her hands were sweating, her heart was racing, and she felt sick to her stomach.
But when she showed off that very smooth swing it didn't look like she was nervous at all and then she gave everyone that very exaggerated display of relief, and she said throughout the day she thought they would but the nerves never really dissipated.
Every time she got over the ball she felt them come back and she was watched by thousands and thousands of people and the only thing you can really compare it is to is the kind of gallery that would follow Tiger Woods when he's in contention on Sunday at Augusta at the Master's. But even though she was under so much pressure and she was dealing with those nerves, she did show that she does belong.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNIKA SORENSTAM, GOLFER: I'm very proud. I mean this has been an incredible week in so many ways and, you know, I feel like you know this is almost more than I can handle and so therefore I'm just thrilled that I'm in.
And, you know, on the first tee I kept telling myself, you know, trust yourself. You can do it. Just, you know, I had one swing foul and I would just take it easy from the top and, you know, it worked all day. So, I kept saying that to myself over and over again and, you know, that's what I needed to distract myself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KARP: There were a number of unforgettable sights today. One came when Annika Sorenstam birdied number 13. It was her only birdie of the day. Her playing partner Aaron Barber (ph) gave her a high five and he said afterward he'd never done that with a competitor before on the PGA tour.
And then at the very end of her round the playing partners with Annika Sorenstam, Dean Wilson and Aaron Barber, both instead of giving her a handshake, gave her a hug and, Lou that is something you just do not see on the PGA Tour -- back to you.
DOBBS: And, I doubt we'll see it anymore frequently as a result of today's event. Josie, the cut all important here, Annika Sorenstam has said that's not the issue for her but for millions of people who are cheering her on, obviously they want her to make the cut. Where does she stand in your best judgment as to making the cut?
KARP: Well, it's going to be difficult for her to make the cut because in years past if she were to duplicate one over par on the first two rounds that would have been good enough, but it looks like the course is playing a little bit easier than in years past.
The leader in the clubhouse right now is at five under, although there is somebody out on the course who is threatening that right now. So, all indications are that in order for Sorenstam to make the cut she will have to shoot under par tomorrow, Lou, and she's going off in the afternoon and this course is going to play probably a lot tougher for her tomorrow than it did today, although the pressure could be a little less -- Lou.
DOBBS: Incredible pressure and, Josie, we thank you very much for the report, Josie Karp on a historic day in sports.
Another historic sports development today, high school basketball star LeBron James has signed a record $90 million endorsement deal with Nike. The 18-year-old James is expected to be the top pick in next month's NBA draft.
His contract is believed to be the richest initial shoot contract ever offered to any athlete in any sport. To put this in some perspective, Michael Jordan signed his first contract with Nike in 1984. That deal was worth $2.5 million.
Alabama's Reuben Stoddard won the "American Idol" competition last night but his win is wrapped in controversy tonight amid charges of voting manipulation and engineered results.
Bill Tucker has the report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: The winner of "American Idol" 2003 is Reuben Stoddard.
BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Wait, the fat guy sang but it may not be over. Readers of the "Drudge Report" woke up this morning to headlines comparing the final result to the 50s quiz show scandal that rocked the game show world, the $64,000 question, and calls for an audit.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, why not? That would be a good thing to do, you know, just to make sure that everything is legit.
TUCKER: More than 24 million votes were cast Wednesday night, and unlike on election nights viewers were invited to vote as many times as they wanted, raising the question that if you were so inclined how easy would it be to manipulate the vote?
JERRY HILBURN, CATFISH SOFTWARE: With a standard everyday Windows computer and software that's easily gotten off of the Internet, you could sit down and write a program in a few hours that would allow you to dial into a telephone bank and vote as many times as you'd like.
TUCKER: Regardless of how you cast or count the votes, one thing can be said with certainty there were three winners Wednesday night, Reuben, Clay, and the show. Reuben has struck a recording contract deal with Jay Records. Clay has a separate recording deal with RCA, and the show blew away the competition.
Number one in its time slot, number one on the night, with a national rating of 14.9 and a share of 36 with a prime 18 to 49-year- old group meaning that one in three TVs was tuned to "American Idol." A spokesman for FOX says there will be absolutely no investigation, that none is warranted or necessary.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TUCKER: And the official word from FOX, the host simply misread the numbers. The difference is 130,000 votes not 1,300 votes period -- Lou.
DOBBS: So that part of the mystery is solved and that kind of margin who cares if everybody is a winner?
TUCKER: And it was less than the margin that George W. Bush ended up taking the election from Al Gore down in Florida, so it was tight, a lot of controversy.
DOBBS: That was the exact parallel I would imagine was on the minds of the viewers all over the country.
TUCKER: I'm sure it was.
DOBBS: Compare this to a presidential election. All right, Bill Tucker thank you very much.
Turning to tonight's poll question and we are absolutely certain of our numbers and results, the question tonight: "Will you respect Annika Sorenstam any less if she fails to make tomorrow's cut at the Colonial, yes or no? Cast your vote at cnn.com/moneyline. We'll have the preliminary results for you coming up later in the broadcast.
The final results of yesterday's poll, the question: "How worried are you about the spread of Mad Cow Disease from Canada to the United States?" Nineteen percent said a lot, 36 percent somewhat, 45 percent not at all.
More reasons tonight, however, to be somewhat concerned about the spread of Mad Cow Disease. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is considering whether to isolate Canadian cattle and beef products already in this country.
The USDA today said it is not certain whether any cattle from herds just quarantined in Canada had already entered the United States. Canada has quarantined seven herds and will likely add more herds to the quarantine.
Russia, Singapore, and Indonesia today joined at least six other countries that have temporarily banned Canadian beef shipments. Earlier this week, Canada announced it had found one cow in Alberta infected with the disease.
The investigation continues tonight into the bombing at Yale Law School. FBI agents are dusting for fingerprints at the site of that bomb explosion. They've also been showing students a sketch of a man seen leaving the empty classroom just before the explosion.
Yesterday's explosion was caused by a pipe bomb. That pipe bomb blew out the wall of a classroom but injured no one. New Haven Mayor John DeStefano says there is nothing to suggest the bombing was anything more than what he termed a limited event.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR JOHN DESTAFANO, NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT: The point that we're at is acknowledging that we had an explosive device. We are not aware of any link it has to international terrorism, a discreet event. We're treating it as a serious discreet event and we'll be going forward with the investigation at the crime scene. (END VIDEO CLIP)
DOBBS: Turning now to what is a scene of utter devastation in Algeria, nearly 1,100 people were killed, 7,000 more injured in yesterday's earthquake there. Rescue teams are continuing their frantic search for survivors but officials expect the death toll to rise even further.
Rym Brahimi joins us now with more from Algiers -- Rym.
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Lou, indeed a very, very difficult scene here especially in the areas that are near the epicenter as you can imagine, (unintelligible) all these areas that are some 40 miles east of the Algerian capital.
Those were extremely hardly hit. There are still people trapped under rubble and people are still digging at times with their bare hands to try and pull out whatever survivors may still be under the rubble or collapsed buildings.
The material loss is also very big. The spokesman of the emergency team says that water pipes, roads, buildings, electricity has been affected in that area. One of the main roads going between Algiers and the airport, one side of it also has been cut off.
And inside the capital, Lou, well I went to a hospital just a short while ago. They were still receiving injured people from some of the areas, some of the outskirts.
I also visited a few buildings in some of the poorer neighborhoods in central Algiers and people are very unhappy. They say this was waiting to happen because a lot of the buildings that collapsed were threatening to collapse because they were very old -- Lou.
DOBBS: Rym, thank you very much, Rym Brahimi reporting from Algiers.
CNN has learned that Iran may at some point have detained a number of al Qaeda terrorists. One of the most senior operatives in al Qaeda is believed to be among those who were held in custody.
Justice Correspondent Kelli Arena reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Despite repeated denials of an al Qaeda presence in Iran, CNN has learned Iranian officials told a U.N. representative during a meeting today that Iran does have several unnamed al Qaeda operatives in custody, but U.S. officials say it is unclear whether the operatives are allowed to receive visitors and communicate. If they are the U.S. says that would amount to safe haven. The U.S. and Britain are demanding Iran turn any al Qaeda members over.
TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: We are concerned that these reports, which we've obviously discussed with the United States of America and we have said very clearly to the Iranian government that harboring al Qaeda would be entirely unacceptable.
ARENA: U.S. officials believe among the al Qaeda operatives who may have been detained by Iran at some point is Saif al-Adel. Adel is believed to be al Qaeda's top operational planner, third in the chain of command. Officials believe he may have played a role in the recent bombings that killed eight Americans in Saudi Arabia.
Because of the al Qaeda issue, the U.S. refused to attend talks with Iran today that were being held under the auspices of the United Nations. There was a lot of optimism about improved relations between the two countries but officials say any momentum has been stopped dead in its tracks.
Kelli Arena, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DOBBS: The United States and Britain today won a victory on Iraq in the United Nations Security Council. The Security Council approved a resolution that ends 13 years of international sanctions against Iraq. The resolution also allows the United States and Britain to govern Iraq and to use its oil wealth to rebuild the country.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN NEGROPONTE, U.S. AMB. TO UNITED NATIONS: The lifting of sanctions marks a momentous event for the people of Iraq. It is the turning of a historical page that should brighten the future of a people and a region.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOBBS: France, Germany, and Russia all supported today's U.N. resolution. Earlier today, Secretary of State Colin Powell arrived in Paris, there for talks about next month's summit of leading industrialized countries.
The French President Jacques Chirac said the summit will build the rules of an open and interconnected global democracy. Chirac's language appears designed in the views of some to embarrass the White House by emphasizing that the United States is not the only country that can set the world's agenda.
The CIA has begun a review of the intelligence the United States had about Iraq before the war began against Saddam Hussein. The review will judge the accuracy of intelligence assessments about such issues as Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and Saddam Hussein's links with international terrorism. This review will be conducted by four retired intelligence analysts brought back by CIA Director George Tenet for the review.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld today confirmed that General Tommy Franks has decided to retire after his military successes in both Iraq and Afghanistan. General Franks was once considered the leading candidate to be the next Army Chief of Staff, but as our Senior Pentagon Correspondent Jamie McIntyre reported earlier this month, Franks decided not to take the job. No replacement for General Franks has been nominated yet.
Tonight, we continue our series of special reports, "Exporting America." This country's unemployment rate rose to six percent last month matching an eight-year high. Nearly nine million Americans are out of work. Many are bitter because their jobs are going to foreign workers who came to this country on special visas called H1-B.
Kitty Pilgrim reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KITTY PILGRIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Mike Roberts was laid off from his technology consultant job in California. He sold his house and is living in a hotel room with his family and plans to leave California for good when his daughter finishes the school year. He says the company he worked for brought in a wave of foreign workers on H1-B visas. He eventually was replaced.
MICHAEL ROBERTS, TECHNOLOGY CONSULTANT: They were bringing in consultants like one, two, three every week, all H1-Bs, so you start asking and then you start discovering they're all coming through just one or two agencies and you realize they're not even considering American citizens at all.
PILGRIM: Thirty-year-old Daniel Soong was making $160,000 a year but no longer. He lost his job to an H1-B visa worker. The former consultant now can't find a job and lives with his parents. He talks about a recent job interview that went nowhere.
DANIEL SOONG, TECHNOLOGY CONSULTANT: They were just interviewing me in order to satisfy the equal opportunity requirements of the state so they wouldn't be discriminating against American citizens, but in reality they had no intentions of hiring me and they wanted to hire an H1-B visa candidate.
PILGRIM: The H1-B visa was born in the tech room of the early 1990s. There were not enough American workers, so employers asked for a special visa to bring in college educated workers from overseas to fill specialized jobs.
In 1992, the H1-B visa let in a maximum number of 65,000 workers, but by the end of the decade that number jumped to 195,000 every year and that doesn't count visa renewals. For example, in 2001, 342,000 people renewed their H1-B visa.
RON HIRA, IEEE-USA CHAIR: Usually in the technology area that you would bring an H1-B worker in temporarily. Unfortunately, the program has changed into instead of being a last resort the H1-Bs have become in some cases, you know, a first choice.
PILGRIM: Peter Bennett started a Web site complaining about the H1-B visas. Then it gets 1,500 hits a week on his Web site. PETE BENNETT, NOMOREH1B.COM: Across the country, workers are being displaced wholesale. Entire teams are brought in to replace American workers and where they're being forced to train their replacements.
PILGRIM: Charles Corry did consultant work in Colorado Springs with many high tech firms that use the H1-B visa. He says to him it's clear that companies give preference to the H1-B applicants because the workers are willing to put in longer hours for less money, anything to keep their job in the states.
CHARLES CORRY, TECHNOLOGY CONSULTANT: They're a modern version of indentured servitude, the hours, the salaries typically much lower. I was probably getting twice what the H1-B visa people were.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PILGRIM: And the General Accounting Office is looking into whether the H1-B visa workers are moving American workers out of their jobs. They expect to come up with a report by mid-September, and that timing is critical because Congress decides on the limits on the number of visas the following month -- Lou.
DOBBS: They're studying whether H1-B visa employees are taking away jobs from Americans?
PILGRIM: They want to make a study, everything.
DOBBS: It seems like as they say a no-brainer.
PILGRIM: Yes. It pretty much is industry knowledge that they are but they have to make a study of it -- Lou.
DOBBS: How many are there now, H1-B visa holders in this country?
PILGRIM: There's no real clear number because some people go back. Some people stay. Some people stay without the status.
DOBBS: What's the best estimate?
PILGRIM: But they think about a million.
DOBBS: A million?
PILGRIM: About a million and the problem is that you can reapply. You can stay in the country for three years and then renew it and stay for six, so you can stay for a long time on this visa.
DOBBS: Kitty, thank you very much, fascinating, Kitty Pilgrim.
Still ahead here tonight our "Quote of the Day" on a much needed boost for the economy.
Then, we'll be talking with Congressman Peter DeFazio on why free trade is to blame for some of the problems our economy is experiencing and why free trade may be a misnomer.
Also tonight, Saudi Arabia the target of terror, Saudi Foreign Policy Advisor Adel al-Jubeir will join us to talk about his country's new approach. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: This week we're focusing in our special series of reports on "Exporting America" on the reasons for the loss of jobs abroad.
Democratic Congressman Peter DeFazio blames the loss of American jobs on poorly written trade agreements. The Congressman says one way to turn around that situation is to create a non-partisan congressional trade office. He says it would write smarter agreements that could uphold labor and environmental standards.
Congressman Peter DeFazio joins us now from Washington, D.C., Congressman, good to have you here.
REP. PETER DEFAZIO (D), OREGON: Thanks, Lou, appreciate being on the show.
DOBBS: The issue of free trade, membership in the W.T.O, (unintelligible), all of these agreements ostensibly a level playing field for lesser developed nations as well as industrialized. Why do you find it's not working?
DEFAZIO: Well, actually if you look back to NAFTA, the whole intent of NAFTA was to make the export of capital safe because the appropriations earlier in the last century in Mexico. So, it was really set up to protect capital exports, capacity exports by U.S. manufacturers and the other agreements are modeled on that.
They don't protect labor rights. They don't protect environmental standards, and they don't create a level playing field in any way. I mean U.S. workers can't compete with Mexican workers let alone China and others that they're being forced to compete with in this agreements.
DOBBS: As you know, Congressman, one of the facts is that jobs that were lost in this country to Mexico have subsequently been, at least a portion of them, lost to China which are now being lost to Vietnam. At what point does this Congress and this White House deal with the issue of real imbalances that are creating job losses and the exportation not only of capital and jobs but intellectual capital?
DEFAZIO: Well, we're hollowing out our economy, both our industrial strength and now our service sector, intellectual strength, and high technology which was supposed to be where the displaced industrial workers went.
It is an extraordinary threat to the future of our productivity and I believe our national security. When does Congress wake up? I don't know. The American people have woken up. Even Alan Greenspan is speaking out strongly about the potential problems here. The International Monetary Fund, controlled by the United States has said our trade deficit isn't sustainable.
But inside the Beltway here there's this head in the sand attitude. You know when we renewed the H1-B which your last segment talked about here in Congress, they lied to us. It was controversial when they renewed it even when the economy was booming.
They did it after hours. They told us there would be no more recorded votes. People left and the Republican leadership brought it up and jammed it through and, of course, the Clinton administration was complicit in that.
DOBBS: The Clinton administration, you mean Democrats and Republicans alike lied to you, Congressman?
DEFAZIO: Well, I'm not sure what the Democratic leadership knew or didn't now but the Republicans did for sure because they told us no more votes. I left among others and no more bills coming up and they brought that through, passed it on a voice vote. So, it's not going to happen this time we would hope with the scrutiny that's now starting to come on this problem and this issue.
DOBBS: Well, the fact of the matter is that in the ten years since the H1-B visa was created, it has brought in a huge number of visa holders that are taking jobs whether one -- and as Kitty Pilgrim reported a study is underway. It doesn't seem to me to require a lot of studying to figure out that jobs have been lost to H1-B visa holders. What are you going to do about it?
DEFAZIO: Well, the conflict that Congress feels, and obviously this administration feels is that there are certain corporations that have done very well under this and they're putting counter pressure on against American workers and the American workforce.
I'm hoping that this will be a time when we're going to do one for the future of our country and for our workers and we can create enough inertia. They can't ignore this problem anymore. I mean all those displaced industrial workers were supposed to get retrained for high tech. Well, guess what, we brought in people to do your work and now we're starting to export it.
I mean the other thing, and I'm not sure she touched on it, is that a lot of times these people are brought in, trained in teams, and then sent back to India where they can pay them even less than here. Here they're paid less than American workers but over there they're paid less than half.
DOBBS: And is it your sense that anything will be done about this or is it -- because you talk about the corporations doing very well. The fact is whether one looks at this in terms of men and women, working men and women in this country who are simply being screwed, or whether one looks at it in terms of corporations who are benefiting, the fact is it is certainly not helping the American economy. Shouldn't Congress be taking a serious look at the interests of this country?
DEFAZIO: Well, absolutely, and I'm hoping to engage some of the Republicans, like Duncan Hunter on Armed Services. We're now -- the Chinese are within half a generation of us in high tech computer technology and chips. We're supposed to by national policy maintain a two generation lead. That happened because of U.S. exports of technology to China under their demands. I mean they demand. We export the technology there and then they'll provide the cheap labor.
This is an extraordinary threat to the future of this country and, you know, there certainly should be a national security concern. If people aren't concerned about our workers they got to be concerned about our national security.
DOBBS: Congressman DeFazio we thank you very much and we wish you luck as you move forward with your advocacy of a congressional trade office. Thank you, sir.
DEFAZIO: Thanks, Lou. Thanks for shining a light on this.
DOBBS: Tomorrow on this broadcast we continue our series, "Exporting America." We'll take a look at the tremendous pressure faced by U.S. companies that try to keep their operations in this country, and we'll show you what businesses and governments are doing to at least try to encourage them to stay. And we'll try to find out precisely what the trade policy is of this country on this important issue.
Time now to check on the U.S. trade deficit, by our calculation tonight it stands at $196 billion.
On Wall Street, a strong performance for the market, the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 77 points and the NASDAQ today rose almost 18 points, while the S&P 500 rose almost 8.5 points on the day.
Christine Romans, as usual is here to tell us about a day that was pretty good.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And, Lou, more than two stocks rose for every one that fell. The market internals remained strong. Volume picked up slightly to 1.44 billion shares at the big board and 184 stocks hit 52-week highs, only 11 new lows.
The advance-decline ratio remains the best in at least two years. The rally was broad-based. Altria up seven percent, AOL Time-Warner up five percent, but Aetna slipped. It's going to pay 700,000 doctors $100 million to settle claims that it meddled with patient care. Analysts are calling it a truce between doctors and managed care but patients won't get any of that money.
Now, as stocks rallied so did bonds, the ten-year note yield down to 3.31 percent. The long bond jumped even more, it's yield fell to 4.26 percent. One analysts, Lou calling the bond market the real American idol and, Lou, bonds close early tomorrow, traders already starting to look forward to a long holiday weekend.
DOBBS: Thank you, Christine. It's been 535 days since Enron filed for bankruptcy. Sixty-five executives in all charged, 15 of them from Enron. No one has been sent to jail.
President Bush today said he looks forward to signing the scaled back version of the tax cut proposal. The president made a rare visit to Capitol Hill today to congratulate Republican leaders on the $350 billion compromise. The House and Senate expected to pass it by week's end.
The bill lowers the top rate on corporate dividends and capital gains, rather, to 15 percent. Lower income Americans will pay five percent, nothing in 2008. The legislation also gives tax breaks to small business and families with children. It allocates $20 billion in aid for financially strapped states.
And that leads us to our "Quote of the Day" from a member of the Bush administration on the tax cut bill. "I urge Congress to send this bill to the president's desk as quickly as possible. The economy can't wait another day to get the boost it needs," that from Treasury Secretary John Snow.
Once the Senate approves the tax cut it turns its attention to the national debt. Senators are now expected to approve a raise of the debt limit to more than $7.3 trillion. The government has reached the current limit of $6.4 trillion. The Treasury Department says it's exhausted all legal steps to stay within the limit. The House has already approved the nearly $1 trillion increase in the debt limit.
When we continue, author, economist, Ben Stein will tell us how successful investing is all about timing.
And a terrorist plot foiled in the Middle East tonight. We'll have that story for you.
And Saudi Arabia has begun to hunt down those responsible for the attacks in Riyadh. Saudi foreign policy adviser Adel al-Jubeir joins us next on the attacks and al Qaeda's latest threats against his country, the region, and the world.
That and more still ahead. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Israel has foiled a plot by radical Islamists in Lebanon to help Palestinian terrorists. The Israeli navy seized a boat off the coast of Lebanon that was reportedly taking a top Hezbollah bomb experts to Gaza. The Israelis say they also found instructions for suicide bombers and bomb-making equipment on that boat.
In other developments in the Middle East tonight, Israel says it's possible that President Bush will meet soon with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and the Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas. Saudi police arrested four more al Qaeda suspects after the terrorist bombings in Riyadh. Those bombings killed 34 people, including eight Americans. Saudi authorities have launched a massive security operation to prevent more such attacks.
Sheila MacVicar reports from Riyadh.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHELIA MACVICAR, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Downtown Riyadh and the traffic is building up. A country which has prided itself on being a safe place today has checkpoints and fear.
An emergency that means a security alert remains on high and diplomats still talk of the possibility of imminent terror attacks. No one knows if they will come or where or when.
Experts have not yet decided if the voice on the audiotape released Wednesday is that of al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.
For Saudis, the message is chilling.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): They also welcome the huge armies to use their lands to attack Iraq. Here are the planes which take off from Saudi Arabian airports.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
MACVICAR: The attacks last week, linked by Saudi authorities to al Qaeda, which killed 34 and wounded dozens more, have deeply shocked people here.
For days, the papers have editorialized against extremists and urged tolerance. After what happened on September 11, and last week, here with a killings of innocents and chilling, says this Saudi man, opinions completely changed. There is no longer anyone, he says, who wants these kinds of things to happen.
And the government has made clear it will no longer tolerate even those who try to justify such actions.
PRINCE SAUD AL FAISAL, SAUDI FOREIGN MINISTER: What they have done is war with these people. The war will include those who sympathize with them. The war will include those who aid and abet them. And the war will include those will urge them or condone their acts.
MACVICAR: At war, with an unseen enemy -- Saudis never thought it would come home to them.
(on camera): Saudi authorities are still not certain how many men they are seeking. There have been more arrests and Saudi security sources say operations continue. But it is not yet clear if the Saudis have found the men who carried out last week's attack or any of those who may be planning new attacks.
Sheila MacVicar, CNN, Riyadh.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DOBBS: Coming up next, the chief foreign policy adviser to the Saudi crown prince will join us to talk about the war on terror and the changed circumstances for Saudi Arabia.
Also tonight, concentrated power. Rupert Murdoch will take his case to Capitol Hill. Critics are crying monopoly. Peter Viles reports on the media titan's efforts to expand the empire.
That story, a great deal more still ahead. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: The Saudi ambassador to the United States met with National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice today. They talked about the Riyadh terrorist attacks and the subsequent investigation.
The chief foreign policy advisor to the Saudi crown prince, Adel al-Jubeir, joins us from our studios in Washington, D.C.
Good to have you with us.
ADEL AL-JUBEIR, SAUDI FOREIGN POLICY ADVISER: Thank you, Lou, always a pleasure.
DOBBS: The investigation, more arrests today. What can you tell us? Give us the latest on the state of the investigation.
AL-JUBEIR: Well, we are leaving no stone unturned in trying to find the perpetrators of this and those who are behind them and those who support them. Our policy is very clear and it's very public.
DOBBS: The relationship between the FBI, the U.S. investigative authorities and those of your country, is it improved from recent experience and past experience?
AL-JUBEIR: I believe the relationship is excellent between our security services and yours. The cooperation is unprecedented. I don't think that there are any problems whatsoever between our two services. We share the same objective, which is to find those who committed these crimes and bring them to justice. And we will.
DOBBS: Calling this attack on these housing complexes in Riyadh, the murders of these 34 people, a wake-up call for Saudi Arabia, why was such a wake-up call necessary?
AL-JUBEIR: Well, Lou, I believe I would have called it a massive jolt. What happened is we had normal people leading normal lives who were murdered in their homes in our midst. And that's just jolted people into action in a similar way that 9/11 jolted the United States into action. America was attacked in East Africa. It was American Marines were murdered in Beirut in the 1980s. Americans were upset, but it was September 11, where normal people leading normal lives were murdered in your midst that caused the United States to take drastic action in the war against terrorism. And what we have seen in Riyadh, granted the scale of horror is a fraction of what occurred September 11, but the principle behind it is the same.
DOBBS: The principle behind it is the same, the motivation is the same and the source of it, the same. Wahhabi extremism, its source is Saudi Arabia. What is your government going to do about radical Islamist terror that finds its seat within the Wahhabi sect of Islam.
AL-JUBEIR: Well, Lou, we take issue with that, these people have nothing to do with the Islam as practiced in Saudi Arabia. They have nothing to do with the teachings of Mohammed (UNINTELLIGIBLE). They are not even religious scholars. They didn't graduate from religious schools in Saudi Arabia. They are pseudo-scholars. They are drop- outs who created a fiction surrounding themselves, and they called themselves scholars.
Our religious scholars - our senior scholars are very clear on the issue of taking life and on the issue of disturbing the peace in a society. Our religious scholars have condemned the terrorist attacks. Our religious scholars were the first in the world to condemn suicide bombing and say that it is un-Islamic, because the taking of a life is against the teachings of Islam, even one's own life. And so for people to associate these heinous crimes with religious thinking in Saudi Arabia is really not the case.
It is unfortunate that there are a number of people who are Saudi who have joined Osama bin Laden and his organization, as have people from over 60 other countries. But that is what's created the perception, which is not correct.
DOBBS: And you would say it is incorrect, then, the textbooks and school books that many of the clerics throughout Saudi Arabia preach, in effect, hatred of Westerners, of non-believers?
AL-JUBEIR: Let me put it to you differently. We have had 100,000 Westerners living in Saudi Arabia at any given moment for the last 30 or 40 years. Where are the hate crimes? We have sent over 100,000 of our students to study in America. If we were teaching hate in our schools of the West, why would they want to come and study in America? We have thousands of companies that are doing business in Saudi Arabia and thousands of Saudi companies that do business here. If we were preaching hatred, would that be taking place?
Having said that, we continually look at our school system. We look at what is being taught in it, and we try to take out those issues that we believe are inciteful, just like you do in the United States. We have put in place pilot projects in Riyadh, programs, and in Jeddah to introduce new teaching methods in order to make sure that our students keep up with the requirements of the modern world.
DOBBS: What are your next steps? What is the next step for the Saudi government? Will it be significantly public, as many of your efforts have not been public in the war against terrorism? AL-JUBEIR: Correct. Yes. I think one of the reasons that we received a lot of criticism is really of our own doing. We do things and we don't talk about it and it creates the impression we haven't done things. For example, people don't realize that we have dismissed preachers from mosques who have ventured into the political area or who have been inciteful. People don't realize that Saudi Arabia has put financial control systems on charities and on our banking system, that we have come up with new charity laws, that we have controlled - that we are now controlling where Saudi funds go. People don't realize that Saudi Arabia has been responsible for the breakup of many al Qaeda cells.
DOBBS: And we thank you for your time. We're out of time. I hope you will come back and join us soon.
AL-JUBEIR: Thank you.
DOBBS: Adel al-Jubeir.
DOBBS: Turning now to the thought of the day, "Real friendship is shown in times of trouble; prosperity if full of friends." From the great play write, Euripides.
Coming up next, he says the book isn't for everyone, only people who want to make money. That's economist, television host, novelist, writer, multi-talented celebrity, and good fellow, Ben Stein on the latest book, "Yes You Can Time." We will find out.
And Rupert Murdoch, he's done good timing over the course of time. Lobbies Congress to expand his fledging media empire. Peter Viles will report battle for control of the media. And what it could mean for what you see on television, radio, read in newspapers, and magazines, and on the web.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Ben Stein knows a little something about money, about acting. He remembers just about, well, he knows everything. You may remember Ben for his famous role in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEN STEIN, ENTERTAINER: Anyone seen this before?
The revenue curve.
Does anyone know what this?
It's says at this point on the revenue curve you will get exactly the same amount of revenue as at this point. This is very controversial.
Does anyone know what Vice President Bush called this in 1980? Anyone? Something D-O-O economics. Voodoo economics.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOBBS: Ben also, of course, hosted his own Emmy Award winning television show, "Win Ben Stein's Money." He's written a book now that tells how to make money, not win it. The book is "Yes, You Can Time the Market." Offering a set signals to show investors when it's time for stocks, bonds and restate or cash. And what to do with the money. Ben Stein, author, economist, actor, lawyer and much, much more joins us now.
Ben, great to have you here.
STEIN: A honor to be here, I assure you.
DOBBS: It's a -- now, you know, as you point out in this book, we have all been told since time and memorial, market timers go broke. You just can't time the market.
STEIN: You cannot time it short term. The timing of the market short term is the province of cranks and lunatics. But long term you can time it. See, what we do in this book is having very simple.
Everyone in the world has heard buy low and sell high. We put some numbers to it and say when is low and when is high. What we basically do is take 15-year moving averages of priced earnings, priced dividends, priced to cash flow, price to sales, price to book, even price to 15-year moving average of price. And say that if you buy it when the metrics -- measurements are low, then after 10, 15, 20 years you may enormously more than the dollar cost average. The differences are phenomenal.
DOBBS: Everybody tells us the dollar cost average. How can you the temerity to suggest?
STEIN: Well, I'll give you an example. Bill Bennett said, I roughly broke even in Las Vegas. Well, they don't have the big casinos because people roughly broke even. And they don't have them because they people bought only when it was a good time to buy. They have the big buildings because they bought all the time. And great for the brokers to buy all the time. And I love brokers, they're wonderful people.
But you shouldn't buy stocks from them all the time. Maybe some of the time you should be buying RAIT, maybe some of the time you should be buying short-term bond funds. Stocks are not always a good investment. Had you bought stocks in 1966, at during one day Intraday high of 1,000, would have taken close to 15 years to ever see that high again as a closing number. Have you bought stocks in 1973, '74, as you well know, you were on the job, you would have lost something like 40 percent of the value just like that. So, it's not always a good time to hold stocks. It's not always a good time to buy.
There are signals. Maybe we should have a color code like the Department of Homeland Security. We do have a web site to tell you when to buy and it's free. Yesyoucantimethemarket.com. And we basically break down what's cheap and what is expensive.
DOBBS: One of the things I suppose a lot of people struggling with that, how in the world do I time the purchase of that individual stock?
How do I make that decision?
STEIN: We make that really simple for you. We don't believe you can pick stocks. And I know that you have people on the show that say they can pick stocks. And Warren Buffet used to be able to pick stocks. And many, many people say they can pick stocks and make a living at saying they can pick stocks. We don't think you can.
We say buy the indexes, buy the diamonds or the spiders. The Qs so expensive it's incredible. Do you know of the 100 largest tech companies on the Nasdaq, that of the Qs, their aggregate earnings zero or very close to zero. And recently they been way below zero. So, there is nothing holding them up except hope and hype.
DOBBS: Well, if I think I may interpret for you, what Ben is saying, that this may not necessarily be that low point to buy. Is that correct?
STEIN: The Dow 27 or 28 times earnings. The S&P 37 times earnings. That's breathtakingly high.
DOBBS: Ben Stein, the book is "Yes, You Can Time the Market." The web site is yesyoucantimethemarket.com. Is that right?
STEIN: No spaces.
DOBBS: I'm sorry?
STEIN: No spaces.
DOBBS: No spaces. I must have pronounced the spaces.
Ben, it is great...
STEIN: It is an honor.
DOBBS: ...to have you here.
STEIN: And you've always been very good to me and to my family. Thank you very much.
DOBBS: And good to see you.
Still ahead, it is a group effort at "The New York Times," a paper scrambling to put the Jayson Blair scandal in its past. We'll tell you how these latest efforts are taking form and we'll share more of your thoughts on our continuing series "Exporting America."
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) DOBBS: A classic organizational move by "The New York Times" today. When in trouble, form a committee. The latest response to the Jayson Blair scandal. You'll recall Blair made up parts of at three dozen articles which appeared in the paper. According to a staff memo, they committee -- quote -- "determine when, where, how and why our newsroom's culture, organizational process and actions led to a failure of our journalism" -- end quote. Go committee.
In Washington today, more Congressional discussion on an issue that Congress will not decide. The issue is whether the SEC will loosen ownership rules and allow big media companies to grow even bigger. And now, for what it means to TV viewers, Peter Viles with a report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETER VILES, CNNfn CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The reality show "Temptation Island" on Fox. To many Americans, it was offensive.
But one broadcaster did something about it. Jim Goodmon pulled it off his Fox station in North Carolina.
JIM GOODMON, PRES. & CEO, CAPITOL BROADCASTING: The point I make is not, you know, whether that was a good decision or a bad decision, but that we're trying to do what we think is right for the community. Now if the network owned my station -- if Fox owned my station, they would carry that program. There would never be any question about it.
VILES: In a nutshell, that's the issue at the FCC: how important is local ownership? How many outlets should media giants like Fox and CNN parent, AOL Time Warner, be permitted to own?
One argument against more consolidation: since media bias is a fact, let's at least have some variety in it.
GENE KIMMELMAN, DIRECTOR, CONSUMERS UNION: I believe everybody in America knows the media is biased. Let's just look at it head on. But we need different owners and different points of view in order to have competition.
VILES: When one senator tried to put Rupert Murdoch on the spot, Murdoch portrayed himself as the underdog.
RUPERT MURDOCH, CHM. & CEO, NEWSCORP: Probably the powerful newspaper and probably the most powerful force in this country is "The New York Times," its news and priorities are repeated in hundreds of newspapers across the country. There is very much a tendency there, if you like, to domination by one company.
VILES: So what does the FCC think all about of this? Fair question. But Chairman Michael Powell will not say.
REP. DAVID PRICE (D), NORTH CAROLINA: I don't think the FCC's listening to the American people or to Congress or anybody else. I think they believe they have their three votes and they're just going to take this vote come what may. (END VIDEOTAPE)
VILES: The FCC now engaged in private discussions on this issue, debating the fine points of a private draft on how to change ownership rules. Their decisions will become public only on the same day that they become policy, and that will be June 2 -- Lou.
DOBBS: What a happy coincidence.
VILES: It sure is.
DOBBS: All right. Nothing that can be done?
VILES: They are -- at this point, almost like judges writing an opinion. They will be lobbied for another couple of days and then you can't even lobby them after that.
DOBBS: Pete, thank you very much. Peter Viles.
Just ahead, the preliminary results of tonight's poll and some of your thoughts about our series of special reports on exporting America.
Please stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Our poll question tonight: "Will you respect Annika Sorenstam any less if she fails to make tomorrow's cut at the Colonial?" She's getting the support she deserves. Fourteen percent of you said yes, 86 percent said no.
Taking a look at some of your thoughts. Your e-mails continue to pour over our series of special reports on "Exporting America."
Monica Petters placed some of the blame on the consumer. "It is true that exporting American jobs to China is unpatriotic. However, it's the consumer that shops for the lowest prices and best bargains that drives manufacturers to import their products."
W. Brown from Minneapolis: "Large companies with American embedded in the name should change their name when they outsource large numbers of their employees to India. How does Bank of India sound? Or how about Indian Express? How can they use American in the branding while eliminating large numbers of American jobs?"
Gene Aker of Pasadena, California, said: "Manufacturing jobs aren't the only ones being shipped overseas. CNN's parent is one of the worst offenders. Most of the calls to American Online's customer service centers are forward to India."
Well, we checked, Gene. You're right. Like many companies, AOL does outsource some of its call centers to India. AOL employs 1400 workers in Banglador and hundreds more in Philippines. Just last month, AOL laid off 100 call center employees and shut down a facility in Columbus, Ohio. Gloria Miller from -- Glory Miller from Phoenix, Arizona was outraged with Nike's endorsement deal with LeBron James, saying, "Nike can afford to pay a graduating high school senior $90 million over five years but can't afford to return the manufacturing of its shoes to the American worker?"
We love hearing from you. That's because you always have some thing interesting to say. Send us your thoughts at loudobbs@cnn.com.
Thanks for being with us tonight.
Tomorrow, our guests include racing great Michael Andretti, ahead of his final race this weekend; William Cohen, former defense secretary, regular contributor to this broadcast; and editors of the nation's top business magazines.
For all of us here, good night from New York City.
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