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1. The president of the United States told the ambassador to Saudi Arabia of his decision to go to war in Iraq BEFORE he told his own Secretary of State.

2. The ambassador to Saudi Arabia has promised the president that oil prices will come down in time for the election.

What the hell is going on here? How and why did the president's reelection campaign figure in his decision to go to war in Iraq, and in negotiations with strategic war allies?

From 60 Minutes:

It was just two weeks later when the president decided to go to war.

That decision was first conveyed to Condi Rice in early January 2003 when he said, "We're gonna have to go. It's war." He was frustrated with the weapons inspections. He had promised the United Nations and the world and the country that either the UN would disarm Saddam or he, George Bush, would do it and do it alone if necessary, says Woodward. So he told Condi Rice. He told Rumsfeld. He knew Cheney wanted to do this. And they realized they haven't told Colin Powell, the Secretary of State.

So Condi Rice said, "You better call Colin in and tell him." So, I think probably one of the most interesting meetings in this whole story. He calls Colin Powell in alone, sitting in those two famous chairs in the Oval Office and the president said, "Looks like war. I'm gonna have to do this," adds Woodward.

And then Powell says to him, somewhat in a chilly way, "Are you aware of the consequences?" Because he'd been pounding for months on the president, on everyone - and Powell directly says, "You know, you're gonna be owning this place." And the president says, "I understand that." The president knows that Powell is the one who doesn't want to go to war. He says, "Will you be with me?" And Powell, the soldier, 35 years in the army, the president has decided and he says, "I'll do my best. Yes, Mr. President. I'll be with you." And then, the president says, "Time to put your war uniform on."

Woodward says he described Powell as semi-despondent because he knew that this was a war that might have been avoided. That's why he spent so much time at the United Nations.

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But, it turns out, two days before the president told Powell, Cheney and Rumsfeld had already briefed Prince Bandar, the Saudi ambassador.

Saturday, Jan. 11, with the president's permission, Cheney and Rumsfeld call Bandar to Cheney's West Wing office, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. Myers, is there with a top-secret map of the war plan. And it says, "Top secret. No foreign." No foreign means no foreigners are supposed to see this, says Woodward.

They describe in detail the war plan for Bandar. And so Bandar, who's skeptical because he knows in the first Gulf War we didn't get Saddam out, so he says to Cheney and Rumsfeld, "So Saddam this time is gonna be out, period?" And Cheney - who has said nothing - says the following: "Prince Bandar, once we start, Saddam is toast."

After Bandar left, according to Woodward, Cheney said, "I wanted him to know that this is for real. We're really doing it."

But this wasn't enough for Prince Bandar, who Woodward says wanted confirmation from the president. Then, two days later, Bandar is called to meet with the president and the president says, "Their message is my message," says Woodward.

Prince Bandar enjoys easy access to the Oval Office. His family and the Bush family are close. And Woodward told 60 Minutes that Bandar has promised the president that Saudi Arabia will lower oil prices in the months before the election - to ensure the U.S. economy is strong on election day.

Woodward says that Bandar understood that economic conditions were key before a presidential election: They're [oil prices] high. And they could go down very quickly. That's the Saudi pledge. 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.