Why Saudi Arabia? Why Now?
by Col. Daniel Smith, U.S. Army (Ret.) from Foreign Policy In Focus
There is also the sense among some members of Congress that the Saudis have not acted to control the soaring costs of energy. In the run-up to the 2004 elections, the Saudis allegedly promised they would increase production if necessary to preclude a price spike that might hurt the reelection prospects of the Bush-Cheney ticket. Once the U.S. election was concluded, however, the Saudis did little if anything to curb higher prices – first to $40 and then to $50 per barrel – pleading market forces beyond their control. Coincidentally with the announcement of the proposed arms sale, the price of a barrel of oil hit $78. Yet there was only silence from the Saudis. From the perspective of the hard-liners in George W. Bush’s White House, the Saudis were undercutting every American goal in the Middle East, particularly the current president’s vision of a democratic Iraq as the seedbed for transforming autocratic regimes to democracies.