I've got State of Denial: Bush at War Part III sitting on my table at home and Woodward does say that President Bush thanked Bandar Bush for Saudi Arabia adding extra crude to the global market in the months leading up to the 2004 presidential elections to take the energy off the table as a major issue for the American voters.

The recent drop in crude prices has a lot to do with recent releases from the SPR, not from a decrease in global demand.

Here's an excerpt from my 10/4/06 blog post (http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=69613389&blogID=176118880...

"Here's the transcript from 5:46 on from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsDEXfhMH7E:

Wallace: "Prince Bandar enjoys easy access to the Oval Office. His family and the Bush family are close. And Woodward told us that Bandar has promised the President that Saudi Arabia will lower Oil Prices in the months before the election to ensure the U.S. Economy is strong on Election Day."

Wallace: "And you also say, Bandar wanted Bush to know that the Saudis hope to fine tune Oil Prices to prime the economy in 2004. What was key (Bandar understood) were the economic conditions before a Presidential Election."

Wallace: "Oil Prices are at an all time high!"

Woodward: "They're high, and they could go down very quickly. That's the Saudi pledge. Certainly over the Summer or as we get closer to the Election, they could increase production several million barrels a day and the price would drop significantly."

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man is a good review of the very interesting history between Saudi Arabia and the US.

Very true, a real eye-opener.