side and all of them executing people, beheading people, the iranians don t behead them, they hang them. but basically, it is a bloody theocratic mess in the middle east. it s only going to get worse as these different factions try to fight it out. i want to talk about saudi arabia claiming that those who were executed were involved in, as they describe it, terror acts and critics will point out they say instead that they believe the people who were executed instead paid the ultimae price for speaking out against the monarchy. what are your thoughts? well, look, a lot of the people executed, a lot of the 47 people beheaded on the 2nd were people who were involved with al qaeda and with attacks in saudi arabia almost ten years ago or more who have been rotting in saudi jails and basically just waiting for this to happen. in the case of nimr al nimr, the
shiite sheikh or ayatollah some say, you know, he was not involved in that kind of violence or subversion and this is an affront to iran, which clearly the saudis knew it would be. you know, the problem here, too, is that the person who is most responsible for this is the crowned prince of saudi arabia, who is very close to the americans. he was running counterterrorism operations for saudi arabia and deeply in bed with the americans in those efforts. christopher, i want to talk also about the proxy war. we understand as you mentioned, many of the 47 involved according to saudi arabia in terror acts, but when it came to the death of nimr al nimr, this has caused a great deal of reaction and when it comes to the proxy wars, what we see in
state saying no, god is on our side and all of them executing people, beheading people. the iranians don t behead them, they hang them. but basically, it is a bloody, thee krat i can mess in the middle east. it s only going to get worse as the different factions try to fight it out. i want to talk about saudi arabia claiming that those who were executed were involved in, as they describe it, terror acts. critics will point out, they say instead they believe the people executed instead paid the ultimate price for speaking out against the monarchy. what are your thoughts? look, a lot of the people executed, a lot of the 47 people beheaded on the 2nd were people who were involved with al qaeda and with attacks in saudi arabia almost ten years ago or more. they have been rotting in saudi jails and waiting for this to happen.
cnn newsroom starts right now. a very good day to you. we start this hour in the middle east. the backlash and protests after saudi arabia executed 47 people accused of terror acts. among those killed, this man, he was a shiite cleric and very critical of the saudi monarchy. some of the sharpest reaction comes from the regional rival, iran. on saturday, crowds protested at the saudi embassy there. you can see demonstrators after they broke into the embassy. some 40 people were arrested there and then there s this photo. iran s supreme leader compares saudi arabia to isis there saying that both execute those who oppose them. then from iraq, top leaders there are showing their
in the case of shiite ayatollah some say, you know, he was not involved in that kind of violence or subversion. this is an affront to iran. clearly the saudis knew it would be. the problem here, too, is that the person who is most responsible for this is the crown prince of saudi arabia, who is very close to the americans. he was running counterterrorism operations for saudi arabia and deeply in bed with the americans in those efforts. christopher, i want to talk also about the proxy war. we understand, as you mentioned, many of the 47 involved according to saudi arabia in terror acts. but when it came to the death, it has caused what we see in