>so when does bush bring our troops home?
I guess it will take YEARS as Powell said today, I am so "shocked", there is nothing better than establishing facts on the ground, just ask butcher Sharon<g>
dailynews.yahoo.com
Powell Sees NATO in Balkans for Years
By Jonathan Wright
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - NATO (news - web sites) troops will probably
stay in the Balkans for years and U.S. troops will not leave Bosnia or
Kosovo ``in the immediate future,'' Secretary of State Colin Powell (news -
web sites) said in an interview broadcast on Sunday.
``There is no exit date for the whole force either in Bosnia and Kosovo.
Those will be long-term commitments,'' he told ABC's ''This Week''
program.
``Although we would like to see all of the troops come out, ours and others,
this is not going to be the case in the immediate future,'' he added.
Asked what he meant by a long-term commitment, he said: ``I think NATO
is going to be there in both places for years. The situation does not seem to
indicate to me, anyway, that in the near future we can simply pull out all of the
NATO troops.''
His comments were another indication that the administration of U.S.
President George W. Bush (news - web sites) has had second thoughts
about any abrupt withdrawal from Bosnia and Kosovo, where U.S. troops
are part of NATO-led peacekeeping forces.
Washington's European allies believe that a U.S. withdrawal from the
Balkans would weaken the Atlantic alliance and mark a shift toward
isolationism in U.S. foreign policy.
Powell, giving his first lengthy television interview since taking office on Jan.
20, was also conciliatory toward Europe on U.S. plans for a national missile
defense (NMD) opposed by Russia, China and some of Washington's
European allies.
``It is not something that is going to happen without full consultation with our
friends and allies and full consultation with the Russians, and beyond that, full
consultation with other nations that have an interest in this is Asia -- Japan,
Korea and China,'' he said.
Moving Embassy To Jerusalem
If necessary, the United States would negotiate with Russia on possible
modifications to the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty of 1972, which bans
the kind of system Bush wants.
But Powell added: ``We have to hold out the possibility that it may be
necessary to leave that treaty if it is no longer serving our purposes or if it's
not something that we can accommodate our programs within.''
Powell was equally cautious on Bush's campaign pledge to start ``the process
of moving the U.S. ambassador to the city Israel has chosen as its capital''.
Moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem would anger Arab
public opinion and damage the ability of the United States to act as a
mediator in Arab-Israeli peace talks.
Powell said: ``At this time of tension ... we will continue to examine when that
process will begin... We are always examining it, but there is no move yet to
move the embassy, although that remains the goal of the United States and it
remains the commitment made by President Bush (news - web sites).''
He said the word ``process'' -- the word Bush used during his election
campaign last year -- could have different meanings. ''Sometimes it means
stall. Sometimes it means move right ahead,'' he said.
On mediation in the Middle East, Powell said the United States would be an
``honest broker'' and that Bush would be ''involved'' after Israelis vote in
premiership elections on Tuesday and the winner forms a government.
Relations With China
``We will always be committed to the security of Israel, but we also will be
anxious to see what we could do in every way possible to achieve the
legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people,'' the secretary of state added.
In the meantime he urged both sides to avoid violence and provocations.
``What matters to the peace process is that we enter this election period and
come out of it with violence kept down,'' he added.
Powell said the United States had not made decisions on two issues likely to
affect relations with China -- whether to sell Aegis-type destroyers to Taiwan
and whether to support a resolution critical of China at the annual meeting of
the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva this spring.
``We have an obligation to Taiwan to make sure that their level of defense
capability remains constant over time and they are in a position to defend
themselves against any threats that might come their way,'' he said.
He denied he disagreed with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on the
level of support the United States should give to the opposition Iraqi National
Congress (INC), which hopes to overthrow Iraqi President Saddam Hussein
(news - web sites) with U.S. support.
Iraqi opposition sources say they believe that Rumsfeld and Vice President
Dick Cheney (news - web sites) favor more support for the INC, while
Powell is lukewarm about the group's prospects.
``We are in the process of discussing what our policy with respect to Iraq
should be, and there is no disagreement at this point that I am aware of
between Secretary Rumsfeld and myself,'' Powell said. |
