Colin Powell, the U.S. Secretary of State, is facing recriminations for the “major blunder” of pushing for a second UN resolution, according to White House sources.
After announcing Monday that “the time for diplomacy has passed”, Powell launched a passionate defense of his performance, reeling off numbers of telephone calls made, meetings held and rejecting accusations that he had traveled too little….One administration source said: “Powell led us up the primrose path and it turned into a debacle. In the White House, Powell’s stock has never been lower than it is now. It was a major blunder. There are plenty of people saying, ‘I told you so’ and pointing out the diplomatic mess we are in.”
… Powell has long referred to Vice President Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, the Defense Secretary, as “the others”. He is said to be seething about Rumsfeld’s utterances, particularly his characterization of “Old Europe” and the claim that the U.S. could go to war without Britain. [Daily Telegraph, 3/17/03]
