After day of cabinet resignations, many fear a shift to the right
Tuesday, November 16 @ 10:15:56 EST
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By Warren P. Strobel and Jonathan S. Landay, Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Colin Powell's resignation and a flood of high-level departures at the State Department and CIA remove the cautionary voices that had often acted as a brake on President Bush's aggressive foreign policy.

U.S. officials and foreign policy analysts said Monday that by agreeing to Powell's departure and approving a purge by new CIA chief Porter Goss, Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney appear to be eliminating the few independent centers of power in the U.S. national security apparatus and cementing the system under their personal control.

Powell and his State Department team - quietly backed by the intelligence community - argued often for a foreign policy that was more inclusive of allies and that relied on diplomacy and coercion rather than on force to deal with adversaries.

They lost more battles than they won.

Link: http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/10189931.htm

Catherine