Nightly News   |  April 21, 2011

Saudi prince: US in mission Libya is 'shameful'

In an interview with NBC's Tom Brokaw, Prince Alwaleed, the multi-billionaire and business mogul known as "the Saudi Warren Buffett"-- offers his outspoken view from Saudi Arabia, America's most important oil-producing nation.

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This content comes from Closed Captioning that was broadcast along with this program.

>>> the u.s. role in libya and the rising price of oil are two of the issues tom brokaw raised during his reporting visit to saudi arabia . a big u.s. ally, as you know, but the relationship between the nations has lately been strained. tonight, we have tom's conversation with an influential member of the royal family .

>> translator: as nephew of saudi arabia 's king, he's a heartbeat from the government here, but he's not a member of it, however, as a business mogul with a personal fortune of some $20 billion, they call him the saudi warren buffett , he neals empowered to say what he thinks.

>> we should not take people for granted. change and change fast.

>> he's watching libya closely. do you approve of what the west is doing in libya with nato providing air strikes on behalf of the rebels.

>> it's a bit shameful act. the u.s. has no policy, no strategy, no objective, no mission statement .

>> as a powerful investor, he does mainter the oil pricing plans.

>> turbulence in iran, bahrain, our region, this will cause a psychological impact that will impact the price of oil. it's in the neighborhood of $100, $110 with the hopes that when things subside, it will go back to $70, $80. i first met him at his estate six years ago where the trappings looked more like las vegas than saudi arabia . many of his employees are women who dress western style within the walls of his empire, and he wants more rights for all saudi women.

>> society can't advance if 50% of the population is locked up in the living room or cooking in the kitchen. we're forced to face these realities sooner than later.

>> he does say the current turmoil will change the middle east forever. how it will turn out, not even he can say.

>> tom brokaw reporting for us from saudi arabia . back here