- NEW YORK -- Colin Powell's
key aide has described US sanctions policy against countries such as Pakistan
and Cuba as "the dumbest policy on the face of the Earth".
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- In an article in GQ magazine Larry Wilkerson, chief of
staff of the United States secretary of state, bemoans Mr Powell's firefighting
role in President George Bush's cabinet.
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- "He has spent as much time doing damage control
and, shall we say, apologising around the world for some less-than-graceful
actions as he has anything else."
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- The article, which includes an interview with Mr Powell,
is most illuminating for the comments made by his close friends and colleagues
who are explicit about his distrust and disdain for the hawks in the administration.
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- Mr Powell's deputy, Richard Armitage, remarks on his
boss's anguish at the damage to his credibility following his speech to
the United Nations last year making the case for war and insisting there
were weapons of mass destruction. "It's a source of great distress
for the secretary," he said.
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- Meanwhile his mentor from the National War College, Harlan
Ullman, describes the US national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, as
a "jerk".
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- He said: "This is, in many ways, the most ideological
administration Powell's ever had to work for. Not only is it very ideological,
but they have a vision. And I think Powell is inherently uncomfortable
with grand visions like that."
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- Their candour suggests that the internecine battles within
the administration are becoming increasingly bitter and open, particularly
those between the departments of defence and the state. "None of Powell's
friends had made any pretence of speculating about or guessing at his feelings,"
wrote the journalist, Wil Hylton. "They spoke for him openly and on
the record."
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- Mr Wilkerson even makes jibes at the war record of Mr
Bush's inner circle, comparing their desire for military conflict with
their reluctance to serve as young men: "I make no bones about it.
I have some reservations about people who have never been in the face of
battle, so to speak, who are making cavalier decisions about sending men
and women out to die."
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- He then goes on to name former neo-conservative adviser,
Richard Perle. He said: "Thank God [he] tendered his resignation and
no longer will be even a semi-official person in this administration."
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- One of the most glaring examples of this departmental
rivalry is in the policy towards China and Taiwan, which has been lobbying
the US to support its move towards official independence from China. Such
a move would incense the Chinese and inevitably inflame tensions in the
area. Nonetheless, Mr Powell's colleagues say the Bush administration has
been encouraging the Taiwanese in their efforts.
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- "[Taiwan] is another place where you get a lot of
tension," says Mr Wilkerson. "Because there are literally people
from the defence department on that island every week. Every week. And
have been for three years. And many of those people are delivering messages
to Taiwan that Taiwan needn't worry. Meanwhile, we're trying to maintain
a more balanced attitude."
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- Mr Wilkerson compares Mr Powell's carrot-and stick approach
to Pakistan with the hawks' lack of diplomacy.
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- "When all you use is a stick, you're not going to
get very far." Negotiation, he argued, makes more progress "than
if you just sanction somebody and walk off and say, 'That's it, I'm not
dealing with you any more'."
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- "It hasn't worked in Cuba for 40 years," says
Mr Hylton.
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- "[It is the] dumbest policy on the face of the Earth,"
replies Mr Wilkerson.
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- Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited
2004 http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1210391,00.html
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