>>$0.75 a gallon is what I call cooperative

The current price of about 25/bbl is not way out of line. Most oil producers (including us) would not want the price to drop much lower. (of course it might matter whether you were asking the teamsters, or Exxon).

This doesn't have too much to do with my point, though. SA has at times moderated the cartel's behavior based on our request that they do so. It's a fact.

>>>Because they were scared to death by Hussein a decade back.

Certainly that's why they originally permitted our troops into their country.

>>>That, and only that, is why we are there today

I doubt this very much. I think we are there because we have a serious hard-on for Iraq, and have put a lot of pressure on SA to let us stay. I don't believe that SA is concerned about Iraq much at this point. In fact, the longer we stay, the more SA seems to like Iraq.