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Iraq: hardliners set agenda, says Powell

Hasan Suroor

Bitter infighting was on in the Bush Administration during the invasion

LONDON: There was bitter infighting at the highest levels of the Bush Administration during the Iraq invasion with senior figures at loggerheads over American tactics, the former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has disclosed in a BBC interview saying he was isolated as hardliners, led by Vice-President Dick Cheney and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, tried to set the agenda.

Speaking to David Frost, Mr. Powell recalled sharp exchanges with Mr. Rumsfeld and said when the issues on which they had differences went to the White House the latter backed the Defence Secretary.

"Mr. Rumsfeld and I had some serious discussions, of a not pleasant kind, about the use of individuals who could bring expertise to the issue. And it ultimately went into the White House, and the rest is well known," he said.

Mr. Powell said his department had drawn up detailed post-war plans but they were "discarded'' by Mr. Rumsfeld with White House backing. He complained that sometimes decisions were taken behind his back.

"Often maybe Mr. Rumsfeld and Vice-President Cheney would take decisions into the President that the rest of us weren't aware of. That did happen, on a number of occasions," he revealed. Mr. Powell, who famously led the case for war at the U.N. Security Council, admitted that much of the intelligence which was used to justify the invasion was half-baked. The intelligence community itself had "doubts'' about some of the claims but did not share them with "us''.

Image dented

"I was deeply disappointed in what the intelligence community had presented to me and to the rest of us, and what really upset me more than anything else was that there were people in the intelligence community that had doubts about some of this sourcing, but those doubts never surfaced up to us," Mr. Powell said.

Mr. Powell acknowledged that the American foreign policy had deeply damaged its international image and turned world opinion against it.

"The United States is going through a period right now where public opinion world-wide is against us. I think that's a function of some of the policies we have followed in recent years with respect to Iraq and in not solving the Middle East's [West Asia] problem and perhaps the way in which we have communicated our views to the rest of the world, we have created an impression that we are unilateralist, we don't care what the rest of the world thinks. I don't think it's a fair impression," he said.

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