- Colin Powell, the outgoing US secretary of state, was
given his marching orders after telling President George W Bush that he
wanted greater power to confront Israel over the stalled Middle East peace
process.
-
- Although Mr Powell's departure was announced on November
15, his letter of resignation was dated November 11, the day he had a
meeting
with Mr Bush.
-
- According to White House officials, at the meeting Mr
Powell was not asked to stay on and gave no hints that he would do so.
Briefing reporters later, he referred to "fulsome discussions"
- diplomatic code for disagreements.
-
- "The clincher came over the Mid-East peace
process,"
said a recently-retired state department official.
-
- "Powell thought he could use the credit he had
banked
as the president's 'good cop' in foreign policy to rein in Ariel Sharon
[Israel's prime minister] and get the peace process going. He was
wrong."
-
- Bob Woodward, the veteran Washington reporter who was
granted unprecedented access to the first Bush administration for his books
Bush At War and Plan Of Attack, said last week that Mr Powell had been
"dreaming" if he thought that he could stay on.
-
- Vice-president Dick Cheney and his fellow hardliner,
John Bolton, an under-secretary of state to Mr Powell, are both understood
to have lobbied Mr Bush to replace him.
-
- They wanted to make Iran's alleged nuclear bomb
aspirations
and support for Islamic terror groups the foreign policy priority for the
new administration and believed that Mr Powell would back away from a
confrontational
approach.
-
- The two are frustrated that Britain, France and Germany
are still seeking a diplomatic deal with Teheran rather than backing an
immediate UN Security Council resolution condemning Iran and threatening
sanctions.
-
- Mr Powell's final pitch to remain in office for at least
another year was made during Tony Blair's visit to Washington nine days
ago, The Telegraph has learned. Earlier indications had been that he
intended
to step down after enduring four years of clashes with the office of Mr
Cheney and the Pentagon under Donald Rumsfeld.
-
- Friends of Mr Powell later briefed journalists that he
had changed his mind because he saw the chance of progress on the peace
process and wanted to see through the Iraqi elections.
-
- Mr Powell is to be replaced by Condoleezza Rice, the
national security adviser and close confidante of Mr Bush.
-
- Mr Bolton's predicted promotion as her deputy is a
further
signal that the president wants to conduct foreign policy without the
"moderating"
influence and popular public face of Mr Powell.
-
- Prominent neo-conservatives in Washington make no secret
of their desire for regime change in Teheran, although few believe that
a full-scale military operation is a viable strategy.
-
- Instead, the emphasis is on establishing economic
sanctions
as a means to squeeze the ruling mullahs. There is also the option that
the US may tacitly back Israeli air strikes on Iranian nuclear
facilities.
-
- The overhaul of the CIA under its new director, Porter
Goss, a recent Bush appointee, is also intended to remove critics of
America's
foreign policy.
-
- http://ads.telegraph.co.uk/click.ng/site=news&spaceid
- =dhtml&logstatus=f&transactionID=11036483439444777&
- Section=news/international_news/north_america/usa&view=details
- &xml=/news/2004/11/21/wpow21.xml
|
