US Secretary of State Colin Powell this week scored a key victory in an often combative Bush administration over Iraq policy, convincing the American president it was time go to the UN and win support for the US-led mission in Iraq.
His success was not only a major break from US policy, it was a victory in the battle for influence with President George W. Bush between the State Department and Pentagon. The tension between Powell and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is no secret in Washington, as the two have feuded over crucial foreign policy issues, with Rumsfeld mostly taking the hardline stance.
The decision to go to the UN Security Council seeking a UN-backed force and cede some control to the world body was at least a tacit acknowledgement by the White House that Rumsfeld's postwar plan in Iraq had failed, and it was time to compromise in order to garner a stronger international force.
For the first time since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and Rumsfeld's successful ouster of the Taliban and Saddam Hussein's regime, it appears the charismatic defense secretary's high standing in the White House may have been diminished by his failure to stabilize Iraq months after Saddam's defeat.
"Anybody evaluating the performance of the office of the secretary of defence in postwar Iraq could not possibly be impressed," said William Nash, a former Army general and senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. "It is hard for me to conceive of his credibility being enhanced by what has happened."
In steps Powell, a man popular with the US public but widely considered an outcast in an administration consisting of conservatives like Vice President Dick Cheney, Rumsfeld and his deputy, Paul Wolfowitz, who are known to have little regard for the UN. Many observers believed Powell had been marginalized within the administration over the debate on Iraq leading up to the war, and he became the subject of newspaper stories over the summer that he would not be back if Bush won a second term.
But as the rebuilding effort in Iraq was faltering, Powell and his team of diplomats began drawing up a resolution for a wider UN role, and were awaiting the right moment to take the case to the president.
On Thursday, Powell adamantly denied a report in the Washington Post that he had used his close relationship with the military brass from his days in the Pentagon to undermine Rumsfeld and get Bush's support. "The story can't be characterized as inaccurate because it is absolute fiction -- total fiction," Powell told reporters.
Rumsfeld, on his way to Baghdad this week, told reporters he supported the process in the UN, and getting more international troops involved would be "a good thing for Iraq."
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