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Bush to talk oil with Saudi prince

Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz dances the traditional 'Ardha,' a bedouin dance, and receives allegiance from the Saudi royal family in Riyadh last month. PHOTO: AFP

US President George W. Bush is seeking relief from record-high gas prices and support for Middle East peace as he opens his Texas ranch to Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil producer.

Bush said he'll make clear that it's not in Saudi Arabia's interests to keep oil prices high.

"If they pinch the world economy too much, it'll affect their ability to sell crude oil in the long run," he said in a television interview last week.

The president also said he's looking for "a straight answer" on how close the Saudis are to reaching production capacity.

"I don't think they're pumping flat out," Bush said.

Bush's goal of spreading democracy across the Arab world also faces a difficult test with Saudi Arabia, a longtime ally ruled by an absolute monarchy. Traditionally Bush holds news conferences with visiting foreign leaders, but there will be none during this visit because Abdullah rarely talks with reporters.

The meeting marks another step in a quickening pace of US involvement in the Middle East. Two weeks ago Bush met with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at the ranch and said Israel should abandon plans for new construction of Jewish settlements in the Palestinian territories. The Saudis believe the administration's strong support for Israel harms prospects for Middle East peace.

Despite the difficult matters, Robert Jordan, a former US ambassador to Saudi Arabia, said the stage was set for a much friendlier meeting yesterday than three years ago when Abdullah first visited the ranch. For one thing, the late Palestinian president Yasser Arafat, a polarizing figure, is now gone -- replaced by an elected president, Mahmoud Abbas. Abbas will have his own meeting with Bush in the next few weeks.

To lay the groundwork for yesterday's meeting, Vice President Dick Cheney talked with Abdullah over lunch on Sunday in a Dallas hotel.

Jordan noted that Saudi officials also have played an instrumental role in persuading Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon. They have been supportive of increasing oil production at crucial times.

And Abdullah has taken some initial steps toward introducing democracy to Saudi Arabia by holding elections for municipal councils, even though women's rights remain severely restricted, political parties are banned and press freedoms are limited.

Likely to be on Abdullah's mind is a Saudi proposal that would give Israel normal relations with Arab nations only in exchange for its return to its borders before it captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Golan Heights and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war.

Although Arab leaders last month endorsed that approach, Jordan said Abdullah -- well aware of Bush's position that the "new realties on the ground" of Jewish settlements make a full Israeli withdrawal unrealistic -- is unlikely to come in "with some flat demand."
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