"Bush administration officials." These are the same nameless people who are rolled out to undercut any Bush policy. I'll believe it when the Pres. says so.
Believe it. Not unnamed officials, one of his top deputies, Powell. Before you go slam Powell, remember who is his boss, and that Powell doesn't make policy, he disseminates it.
http://www.canada.com/news/story.asp?id=3355E7D6-A7DE-4870-AD96-3C2C861CC9AA WASHINGTON (AP) - Toughening his stand on construction of an Israeli security fence, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Thursday the administration would abide by congressional provisions for reducing U.S. aid to Israel for settlement activity on the West Bank.
"We have identified some problems" with the project and the administration will keep talking to Israel about them until there is a solution, Powell said at a news conference.
"We have concerns about that fence," Powell said. "We have problems with it."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2003-08-05-powell_x.htm Powell worries about Israeli fence
WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Colin Powell says he is concerned that the security fence Israel is building could impede peacemaking with the Palestinians.
"A nation is within its rights to put up a fence if it sees the need for one," Powell said in a broadcast to Arab countries. However, he said, "In the case of the Israeli fence, we are concerned when the fence crosses over onto the land of others."
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,6888350%255E401,00.html Powell concern over Israeli fence
From correspondents in Washington
08aug03
US Secretary of State Colin Powell today renewed US concerns about Israel's controversial West Bank security barrier but said no decision had yet been whether the penalise Israel for its construction.
Powell said Washington remained worried that the barrier - which at some points is planned to intrude into Palestinian territory across the 1967 Green Line division between Israel and the West Bank - would complicate the delineation of borders for a Palestinian state.
Although US President George W Bush has said he understands Israel's desire to protect its citizens, Powell said the construction of the barrier should not be allowed to "prejudice anyone else's property, anyone else's rights".
"It's when the fence begins to intrude on land that is not on the Israeli side of the Green Line or starts to intrude in a way that makes it more difficult for us to make the case for a viable Palestinian state ... it is appropriate for us to say to our Israeli friends we have a problem here," he said.
"That's what we're doing," Powell told reporters in Washington.
http://www.walb.com/Global/story.asp?S=1391547 Bush calls Israeli security fence 'a problem'
Crawford, Texas-AP -- President Bush is concerned that a security fence Israel is building could hurt efforts to make peace with the Palestinians.
Bush calls the fence "a problem." He says the US will continue to work on the issue.
The president told reporters in Crawford, Texas, that the key to peace is for both parties to create conditions that would build confidence. Bush says people then "will know their lives will be safe and prosperity can break out."
Bush spoke after meeting at his ranch with Secretary of State Colin Powell.
In a broadcast to Arab countries this week, Powell had signaled his disapproval of the Israeli security construction on the West Bank. Powell said the Israeli fence "crosses over onto the land of others