To the Point

Saudi Oil

Saudi Arabia is trying to reassure the industrial world that its oil reserves are secure against terrorism, but this weekend-s bloody hostage episode has produced record prices and raised some disturbing questions. A massive manhunt continues for three men who killed 22 mostly foreign hostages in the oil city of Khobar, and security forces killed two other men allegedly linked to the hostage episode. How vulnerable are the oil fields to Osama bin Laden, who-s declared war on the ruling family? Can the House of Saud continue to hold power when oil wealth and puritanical Islam seem incompatible? If Saudi oil were cut off or even diminished, what would that mean for the global economy? Warren Olney speaks with the spokesman for the Saudi ambassador in London, former CIA and State Department officials, and an energy policy expert from the Cato Institute. Making News: Bush Compares War on Terror to WWII As President Bush prepares for a trip to Europe, he delivered today-s commencement address at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. He compared what he calls the war on terror to other definitive historic moments for the United States. Richard Wolff, Washington correspondent for Newsweek magazine, says the President's speech lays the groundwork for his upcoming trip. Reporter's Notebook: Ahmad Chalabi and the American Press Today-s New York Times reports that Ahmad Chalabi, once the Pentagon-s favorite Iraqi, betrayed one of Washington-s most valuable sources of information about Iran. He is accused of telling an Iranian official that the US had broken Iran-s intelligence code. Michael Massing, frequent contributor to the New York Review of Books and Columbia Journalism Review, considers "PAC journalism" and Chalabi's curious relationship with the press.