Powell denies conspiracy to outwit Pentagon over new UN resolution on Iraq

US Secretary of State Colin Powell on Thursday flatly denied a report that he and the Joint Chiefs of Staff had conspired to press President George W. Bush to back a new UN resolution on Iraq over the objections of the Pentagon. Powell said the report, which appeared on the front page of Thursday's Washington Post, was "total fiction" and that plans for the resolution had been approved on their merits by Bush, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other top presidential aides.

"I read that story in The Washington Post where allegedly the chiefs and I were conspiring to get around the system and to press the president," Powell told reporters at the State Department.

"The story can't be characterized as inaccurate because it is absolute fiction, total fiction," he said.

The Post, citing unnamed senior US officials, said Powell had begin a secret campaign in July to convince Bush that the Pentagon's plans for the occupation of Iraq were not working and that a new UN resolution was needed.

It said Powell, a former general and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had worked on the proposal with members of the joint chiefs despite objections from Rumsfeld and other hawkish top civilian leaders at the Pentagon who believed the United States could and should go it alone in Iraq.

Armed with support from the joint chiefs, the Post reported that Powell had presented Bush on Tuesday with a near fair accompli -- the plan to seek a broader UN mandate for the Iraq operation -- and that the president agreed.

"Thus a long and high-stakes bureaucratic struggle resolved, with the combined clout of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the State Department persuading a reluctant White House that the administration's Iraq occupation policy, devised by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, simply was not working," the Post reported.

"It's all fiction," he said. "It didn't happen. There is no such collusion, and there was no need for any such collusion."

"There is absolutely no substance to this mischievous, fictional story about Colin Powell and the Joint Chiefs of Staff colluding in some way," he said. "We didn't do it."

Powell said Bush, Rumsfeld, national security advisor Condoleezza Rice and others had all been aware of plans for the resolution and had agreed with them.

Could it be that "where is smoke there is fire" and the State Dept. was indeed trying to put Bush and Rumsfeld into a position to leave them no choice?

Looks to me that Newt is right, the State Dept. is NOT on the US team. Of course it could also be that the WP is trying to stir up trouble, but I am liking the State Dept. less and less. Remember how we ended up in the 6-month holding pattern over Iraq.

Here is the WP article the above article is referring to:

Powell and Joint Chiefs Nudged Bush Toward U.N.

EXCERPT

On Tuesday, President Bush's first day back in the West Wing after a month at his ranch, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell walked into the Oval Office to present something close to a fait accompli.

In what was billed as a routine session, Powell told Bush that they had to go to the United Nations with a resolution seeking a U.N.-sanctioned military force in Iraq -- something the administration had resisted for nearly five months. Powell, whose department had long favored such an action, informed the commander in chief that the military brass supported the State Department's position despite resistance by the Pentagon's civilian leadership. Bush and his national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, whose office had been slow to embrace the U.N. resolution, quickly agreed, according to administration officials who described the episode.

Thus was a long and high-stakes bureaucratic struggle resolved, with the combined clout of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the State Department persuading a reluctant White House that the administration's Iraq occupation policy, devised by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, simply was not working.

Bush is in a bind. The huge expenditure in Iraq blows the deficit out of sight and makes him vulnerable on that score. If sabotage and American deaths continue, he is vulnerable on that scenario. His opponents in the UN and EU are extremely pleased to see his administration in a bind after the comments his administration made leading up to the Iraq war. Bush 1 failed in his try for a second term due to recession after high popularity during Desert Storm.

Bush 2's strategy was to copy his father's strategy and ride a huge wave of popularity on the success of conquering Iraq. The initial strategy worked well but has gotten bogged down with guerilla actions. The expenses have increased more than projected. He needs foreign troops to relieve our troops and present a more likable occupation force as well as help on reconstruction expenses. The decisions are going to be critical to his chances for reelection.

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