M A I N   N E W S

Powell, three others resign
Ashish Kumar Sen writes from Washington

US Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and three of his Cabinet colleagues have submitted their resignations to President George W. Bush, the White House said today.

General Powell resigned on Friday, the White House said.

The other three who resigned were Agriculture Secretary Ann Venneman, Education Secretary Rod Paige and Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, it said, adding that Mr Bush had accepted the resignations of all of them.

State Department officials said Mr Powell would stay on until a replacement was confirmed.

“That doesn’t mean they’re leaving today,” said Mr McClellan. “They’ll continue to do their job.”

Both National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and US ambassador to the UN, John Danforth are being tipped as possible successors to Mr Powell.

Mr Powell was regarded as the odd man out in the Bush administration who was frequently undermined by his conservative colleagues — most significantly Vice-President Dick Cheney, Defence Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and his deputy Paul Wolfowitz.

He became the 65th Secretary of State of the United States on January 20, 2001. Before becoming Secretary of State, he served as a key aid to the Secretary of Defence and as National Security Adviser. He also served for 35 years in the US Army, rising to the rank of Four-Star General and serving as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Mr Powell has stressed that fighting the war on terrorism is not just a military but also a diplomatic task, and that the two go hand in hand. In a major address at George Washington University on September 5, 2003, he said: “We do not see the war against terrorism and the nurturing of constructive relationships among the major powers as competing tasks. We conduct the war on terrorism with an eye turned toward great power cooperation. And we seek enhanced great power cooperation with an eye turned toward success in the war on terrorism.”

Last week, when asked if he wanted Mr Powell to stay on to oversee the Mideast peace process Mr Bush told reporters: “I’m proud of my secretary of state. He’s done a heck of a good job.”

Mr Powell’s departure comes on the heels of last week’s resignations of Commerce Secretary Donald Evans and Attorney General John Ashcroft.