Kerry criticizes tying election to oil prices

April 20, 2004

BY MIKE GLOVER



LAKE WORTH, Fla. -- Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry on Monday blasted President Bush over a report that he struck a deal with Saudi officials to lower gasoline prices before the election.

The report came from journalist Bob Woodward, whose book about how the United States went to war in Iraq has created a furor. Woodward also contended that the Saudis were told about U.S. plans to attack Iraq before Secretary of State Colin Powell was.

Kerry, on a campaign stop in Florida, ripped Bush. ''If ... it is true that gas supplies and prices in America are tied to the American election, tied to a secret White House deal, that is outrageous and unacceptable to the American people,'' Kerry said. ''If this sounds wrong to you, that's because it is fundamentally wrong.''

CBS' ''60 Minutes'' reported that Woodward said Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi ambassador to Washington, has promised Bush that Saudi Arabia will lower oil prices in the months before the election to ensure the U.S. economy is strong on Election Day.

''That's the Saudi pledge,'' Woodward told ''60 Minutes'' for a report on his book, Plan of Attack, to be released today. ''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.''

Asked if he could describe conversations between the White House and Bandar about lowering oil prices, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said only that Bandar had visited the White House on April 1 and pledged to protect the world economy from oil shocks. Bandar said Saudi Arabia would take actions to ensure that crude oil prices remain between $22 and $28 a barrel, ideally an average of $25, McClellan said.

Saudi foreign policy adviser Adel Al-Jubeir said Saudi Arabia doesn't interfere in elections and does ''not use oil for political purposes.''

Woodward also wrote in his book that Bandar was given advance information about U.S. plans to invade Iraq by Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Bandar learned of the plans on Jan. 11, 2003, two days before Powell was told, Woodward said.

In a Jan. 11 meeting with Cheney, Rumsfeld and Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Bandar was shown a map laying out plans for attacking Iraq, Woodward writes in the book. The map was marked ''TOP SECRET NOFORN,'' meaning the classified material wasn't to be shown to non-U.S. officials, Woodward writes.

At the meeting, Bandar asked for assurances that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein wouldn't survive the war. Cheney responded, ''Prince Bandar, once we start, Saddam is toast,'' according to Woodward.

Woodward's assertion that Bandar was briefed on the war plans before Powell was ''not true,'' Bush supporter Ralph Reed said. Reed, former head of the Christian Coalition, is Bush's campaign chairman for the southeastern United States.


AP, with Bloomberg News contributing