While you were quaking in your boots over the Bin Laden tape

...a tape which I'm beginning to believe is manufactured by the Administration and released in an attempt to save the Administration's ass on the spying issue, oil prices are back up to $67 a barrel on fears generated by this so-called Bin Laden tape and the standoff with Iran:

Crude oil may climb past $70 a barrel for the first time in more than four months as the U.S. and its European allies pressure Iran to end nuclear research, a Bloomberg News survey shows.

Twenty-nine of 55 analysts surveyed, or 53 percent, said prices will rise next week. Eight forecast prices will decline and 18 expected little change. Last week, 60 percent said prices would increase. Oil traded above $67 a barrel today in New York.

The dispute with Iran, the world's fourth-biggest oil producer, has raised the possibility that the country may retaliate to possible censure by cutting shipments. Germany, France and Britain called for the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency to hold an emergency meeting regarding Iran's Jan. 10 decision to resume nuclear fuel research.

``The investment dollars are coming into the energy market as people look for a hedge against the Iran worries,'' said John Kilduff, vice president of risk management at Fimat USA in New York. ``The momentum makes reaching $70 inevitable.''

Crude oil for February delivery rose as much as 0.6 percent to $67.20 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That's the highest intraday price since Sept. 29. It was at $67.05 at 4:15 p.m. Singapore time.

The Bush Administration and its neocon orcs are champing at the bit to get out of the war in Iraq, which has not gone well enough to sustain their interest, and dip their wicks into Iran, which presents a far more attractive target to an oil-soaked Administration still looking to prove its manhood.