SAUDI Arabian leaders made clear Friday they see no reason to increase oil production until their customers demand it, apparently rebuffing President Bush amid soaring U.S. gasoline prices.

During Bush's second personal appeal this year to King Abdullah, Saudi officials stuck to their position that they are already meeting demand, the president's national security adviser told reporters.

"What they're saying to us is ... Saudi Arabia does not have customers that are making requests for oil that they are not able to satisfy," Stephen Hadley said on a day when oil prices topped $127 a barrel, a record high.

The Saudi government indicated that it is willing to put on the market whatever oil is necessary to meet the demand of its customers, Hadley said.

But even then, he said, Saudi leaders say increased production would not dramatically reduce pump prices in the United States.

Earlier, a group of Democratic senators wants asks Saudi Arabia that give us oil or no guns.

A group of Democratic senators wants to make a massive arms sale to Saudi Arabia contingent on getting cheaper oil, reports AFP. "We are saying to the Saudis that, if you don't help us, why should we be helping you?" says Chuck Schumer, a Democratic senator from New York. "We are saying that we need real relief, and we need it quickly. You need our arms, but we need you to cooperate and not strangle American consumers."

At issue is an arms package worth some $20 billion. The group has introduced a resolution in the Senate to block the pending sale. When the controversial deal was announced last July, Noah wrote that he was "utterly, completely flummoxed by the Bush Administration's decision to sell $20 billion worth of arms to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf potentates."

I'm not as surprised, since the sale is consistent with our arms sales to the region in the past. The precedent of linking oil prices to arms sales is interesting, however.