''If bin Laden takes over and becomes king of Saudi Arabia, he'd turn off the tap,'' said Roger Diwan, a managing director of the Petroleum Finance Company, a consulting firm in Washington. ''He said at one point that he wants oil to be $144 a barrel'' -- about six times what it sells for now.

It's a good thing I guess that the US government was so accommodating of his plan, then. It seems Bushco liked the idea of $144 a barrel, too.