Powell promises aggressive foreign policy

US Secretary of State Colin Powell wants to reach out to the
international community. The foreign policy of ‘Bush 2’,
will, however be a “continuation of his principles, his
policies, his beliefs”.

The vague hopes in some European quarters that the foreign
policy of the second Bush administration would be closer to
their views are being put to shame by US Secretary of
State Colin Powell. 

In a first interview after the Republican election victory,
given to the Financial Times, Powell
announces that Bush will still pursue a foreign policy that
is “aggressive in terms of going after challenges,
issues”.  Bush was “going to keep moving in this direction”,
said Powell. While it would be “multilateral in nature”, the US
would act alone where necessary.

Commenting on the illness of Yassir Arafat and the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he said that the situation presented
a positive chance for the peace process: “We are ready to seize
this opportunity aggressively.” 

Powell also said that the peace process was “one of the biggest
overhangs in our foreign policy, the way it is perceived”. He did
not, however, give further details as to how the US
may become more involved. 

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