- Colin Powell, the US secretary of state, is becoming
so frustrated at being undermined by the White House that he may stand
down after the mid-term elections, according to some American diplomats.
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- The damaging speculation sweeping Gen Powell's Foggy
Bottom headquarters has been dismissed as unfounded by senior State Department
sources, but it caps a very bad week for President George W Bush's cabinet.
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- Gen Powell could become a powerful focus of discontent
outside the Bush cabinet
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- John Ashcroft, the attorney-general, was reprimanded
for his announcement of the arrest of an alleged "dirty bomber".
Donald Rumsfeld, the secretary of defence, was forced to make an embarrassing
retreat over claims of al-Qa'eda activity in Kashmir.
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- But the biggest problem has been the simmering internal
dispute over Middle East policy, which burst into the open when Gen Powell
contradicted Mr Bush and Ari Fleischer, the White House spokesman, appeared
dismissive of the secretary of state.
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- Gen Powell, who led US forces to victory in the Gulf
war, is a towering figure in American politics. His domestic approval ratings
top even those of Mr Bush.
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- The Foreign Office and continental diplomats view him
as the "moderate" and pragmatic face of a unilateralist Bush
administration. "It's fair to say that Powell is the one we can do
business with," said one British official.
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- His premature departure would be seen as disastrous by
the White House, not least because he could become a powerful focus of
discontent if he were outside the administration.
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- The tensions between Gen Powell and senior figures such
as Mr Rumsfeld have been exacerbated by the White House contradicting the
State Department on key foreign policy issues.
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- Officials at the Pentagon privately accuse Gen Powell
of a tendency to "freelance" and consider himself the most important
figure in the administration.
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- The trouble began on Monday when Mr Bush gave unequivocal
backing to Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, and appeared to rubbish
Gen Powell's proposed ministerial conference on the Middle East.
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- "It totally undercut what we were trying to do and
was very damaging," said a State Department source. "We have
spent the rest of the week trying to reassure Arab nations that the president
was misinterpreted." There was also considerable State Department
anger directed towards Mr Fleischer.
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- On Wednesday, Mr Fleischer answered a question about
whether Mr Bush supported Gen Powell's stance on a provisional Palestinian
state by saying the president was "listening to a variety of people
who have some thoughts to share".
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- He added: "The secretary [Mr Powell] from time to
time will reflect on the advice that he gets, and do so publicly. Which
is his prerogative, of course."
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- Mr Bush is expected to announce next week that he is
in favour of establishing a timetable for an interim Palestinian state.
But a titanic battle is going on within the administration, with Mr Rumsfeld's
allies saying Mr Sharon should be given a free hand.
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- This appears to be Mr Bush's instinct but, as a president
with limited foreign policy experience, he can tend to be pushed one way
and then the other by competing advisers.
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- Mr Rumsfeld, who is described by his enemies within the
administration as abrasive and arrogant, has annoyed the State Department
with his "Rummygrams" - notes that question Gen Powell's policies
or offer unsolicited advice.
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- One recent note from Mr Rumsfeld cited a newspaper article
suggesting that Gen Powell's officials favoured lifting sanctions against
Libya. "Is this true?" he asked.
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- The Pentagon chief has been overhead correcting Mr Powell's
pronunciation of Kabul - the stress should be on the second syllable, he
insisted - and poking fun at him for describing Afghans as "Afghanis".
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- Officials dismiss this as nothing more than jocular banter
and it is true that there seems to be no personal animus between the two
men. But this means that the dispute is ideological - which could be more
damaging to the Bush administration in the long term.
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- Since September 11, Mr Bush has tended to tilt towards
conservative hawks such as Mr Rumsfeld on important issues such as withdrawing
from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and targeting Iraq.
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- "He is intensely loyal to the president but there
may well come a point when Gen Powell will wonder whether it is worth being
secretary of state if he cannot shape American foreign policy," said
the State Department official.
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- "After all, he can earn millions of dollars a year
on the lecture circuit and still spend three times as much time with his
wife."
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