Powell: Kerry Policy on Iraq Unclear
newsmax.com
WASHINGTON -- Joining a high-octane political debate, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Friday that Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry was looking for an "applause line" but not stating a clear policy when he said the Bush administration was holding U.S. troops hostage to Middle East oil.
Powell, in an interview with Westwood One Radio, said President Bush was not "sending our troops overseas for oil" but to put a stable democracy in place in Iraq that would provide oil to the world market.
Powell said he supported an energy task force appointed by Vice President Dick Cheney, and he criticized Congress for not passing an energy bill.
"What we need is a more sensible energy policy and that is what the president has been calling for the three years of this administration," Powell said.
The Cheney plan favors oil and gas drilling on public land and rejuvenating nuclear power. It provided the starting point for wide-ranging energy legislation submitted to Congress.
Kerry has charged that "this administration has done nothing with OPEC (the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) to reduce the gas prices." He also has called on Bush to stop filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserves, which some Democrats contend drives up the cost of fuel for U.S. consumers.
And, referring to the U.S. post-war occupation of Iraq, Kerry has said "no young American in uniform ought to ever be held hostage to America's dependence on oil from the Middle East."
Asked about the remark, Powell said, "It's great to get an applause line, but I am not sure what the senator was proposing."
Powell said the United States needed good relations with the countries in the oil cartel and stable and friendly regimes in the Middle East.
"The fact of the matter is we do rely on imported oil to fuel our economy and to fuel our nation," he said.
If Congress passed Bush's energy bill, the United States would be less dependent on overseas energy, Powell said. "We could do many more things to conserve energy and make useless dependent on overseas oil," he said.
But, Powell said, because of Americans' desire "for different kinds of automobiles" - a reference to the huge gas-guzzlers that many Americans drive - the United States is importing close to 58 percent of its petroleum needs.
© 2004 Associated Press. |
