Bush hopes Cheney's Mideast visit will rein in oil prices

President Bush HIMSELF just got back from the Middle East on a so-called "peace mission," a peace mission in which he sought to broker over 80 billion dollars in arms sales, followed by a gift receiving bonanza during which time he begged Arabs for more oil and got nada.

At the end of this trip President Bush, in a feisty mood declared his confidence that we would see peace in the Holy Land before the end of his term as US president. Since then we have seen the security wall between Egypt and Gaza breached, open military exchanges between Israel and Gaza, and following newspapers (just to name a few) warning of a 3rd intifada: the Israeli Ynet news, the Christian Science Monitor, the Times of London, Israel national news, the Guardian, and Haaretz.

















In response to this, President George W. Bush said Monday that he was sending Vice President Dick Cheney to the Middle East to raise concerns about oil prices and to press Israeli and Palestinian leaders to move toward peace. (huh?)

Sending a lesser figure just weeks after the president of the United States HIMSELF was JUST there, trying to do the VERY SAME THING with no success!

clipped from www.iht.com

President George W. Bush said Monday that he was sending Vice President Dick Cheney to the Middle East to raise concerns about oil prices and to press Israeli and Palestinian leaders to move toward peace

Cheney, who leaves Sunday, will meet with King Abdullah in Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil producer and the de facto leader of OPEC.

"Obviously, we want to see an increase in production," said Dana Perino, an administration spokeswoman. "The president does want OPEC to take into consideration that its biggest customer, the United States - our economy has weakened and part of the reason is because of higher oil prices. We think that more supply would help, and I don't anticipate that the vice president would have any other message than that one."

The Bush administration is struggling to revive an American economy that is sagging under the weight of a housing slump, rising prices and a credit crisis, and it has had little luck persuading OPEC to increase production levels.