MrBishop
Well-Known Member
Kerry: Gas deal, if true, 'disgusting'
[size=-1]John Kerry (news - web sites) criticized as "disgusting" a reported arrangement between the Bush administration and Saudi Arabia to ease gas prices before the presidential election - a move that could help the president's re-election campaign.[/size]
[size=-1] Campaigning in Florida on Monday, Kerry, the likely Democratic presidential candidate, seized on comments by author Bob Woodward about his book Plan of Attack. The book chronicles the administration's planning for the Iraq (news - web sites) war.
In an interview on the CBS program 60 Minutes, Woodward said Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan, Riyadh's ambassador to Washington, had made the pledge after being assured the United States planned to remove Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) from power in Iraq. "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," Woodward said. (Related story: Woodward's words don't match)
Saudi Arabia, as the leading exporter of oil to the United States, has the power to affect prices by changing production levels. But in a statement, an aide to Bandar denied that his country would do so for political reasons.
The oil market has increasingly become a political issue as crude oil prices near a 13-year high. The average price of a gallon of regular gasoline hit a record $1.813 Monday, the Energy Department said. The department has predicted gas prices will peak in May.
If it is true "that gas supplies and prices in America are tied to an election and tied to a secret White House deal, that is outrageous and unacceptable to the American people," Kerry told more than 1,000 people at a town meeting in Lake Worth. "If that sounds wrong to you, that's because it is fundamentally wrong."
At an earlier fundraising breakfast, Kerry, as part of his appeal to Jewish voters in this state, promised to "end this sweetheart relationship with a bunch of Arab countries" that provide money to fund anti-Israel terrorism. An aide said the reference was to Saudi Arabia.
Later, Kerry said he was "deeply, deeply troubled" by Woodward's account. "If that's true, it's disgusting."
White House spokesman Scott McClellan declined to answer questions about the reported oil production arrangement. He said Saudi Arabia has "committed to making sure prices remained in a range, I believe it's $22-$28 per barrel of oil, and that they don't want to do anything that would harm our consumers or harm our economy." Asked whether the promise is related to the election, McClellan said, "I'm not going to speak for Prince Bandar."
In a statement, Bandar's foreign affairs adviser, Adel Al-Jubeir, said the Saudi promise was simply a restatement of a long-standing policy. "We do not use oil for political purposes," he said.
"Saudi Arabia is the key, really, to the whole market," says Tim Evans, senior energy analyst at IFR Markets, a market research firm. The Persian Gulf country has one-tenth of the world's oil production capacity, the largest of any country in the world. That gives the Saudis enormous power with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. "To a large extent, they set the tone for OPEC (news - web sites)," Evans says. "They can certainly have an impact all on their own."
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[size=-1]John Kerry (news - web sites) criticized as "disgusting" a reported arrangement between the Bush administration and Saudi Arabia to ease gas prices before the presidential election - a move that could help the president's re-election campaign.[/size]
[size=-1] Campaigning in Florida on Monday, Kerry, the likely Democratic presidential candidate, seized on comments by author Bob Woodward about his book Plan of Attack. The book chronicles the administration's planning for the Iraq (news - web sites) war.
In an interview on the CBS program 60 Minutes, Woodward said Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan, Riyadh's ambassador to Washington, had made the pledge after being assured the United States planned to remove Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) from power in Iraq. "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," Woodward said. (Related story: Woodward's words don't match)
Saudi Arabia, as the leading exporter of oil to the United States, has the power to affect prices by changing production levels. But in a statement, an aide to Bandar denied that his country would do so for political reasons.
The oil market has increasingly become a political issue as crude oil prices near a 13-year high. The average price of a gallon of regular gasoline hit a record $1.813 Monday, the Energy Department said. The department has predicted gas prices will peak in May.
If it is true "that gas supplies and prices in America are tied to an election and tied to a secret White House deal, that is outrageous and unacceptable to the American people," Kerry told more than 1,000 people at a town meeting in Lake Worth. "If that sounds wrong to you, that's because it is fundamentally wrong."
At an earlier fundraising breakfast, Kerry, as part of his appeal to Jewish voters in this state, promised to "end this sweetheart relationship with a bunch of Arab countries" that provide money to fund anti-Israel terrorism. An aide said the reference was to Saudi Arabia.
Later, Kerry said he was "deeply, deeply troubled" by Woodward's account. "If that's true, it's disgusting."
White House spokesman Scott McClellan declined to answer questions about the reported oil production arrangement. He said Saudi Arabia has "committed to making sure prices remained in a range, I believe it's $22-$28 per barrel of oil, and that they don't want to do anything that would harm our consumers or harm our economy." Asked whether the promise is related to the election, McClellan said, "I'm not going to speak for Prince Bandar."
In a statement, Bandar's foreign affairs adviser, Adel Al-Jubeir, said the Saudi promise was simply a restatement of a long-standing policy. "We do not use oil for political purposes," he said.
"Saudi Arabia is the key, really, to the whole market," says Tim Evans, senior energy analyst at IFR Markets, a market research firm. The Persian Gulf country has one-tenth of the world's oil production capacity, the largest of any country in the world. That gives the Saudis enormous power with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. "To a large extent, they set the tone for OPEC (news - web sites)," Evans says. "They can certainly have an impact all on their own."
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