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The United States on Sunday asked Iran, Iraq and North Korea, described as 'axis of evil' by President George W Bush, to change their ways failing which America will do whatever necessary to protect itself and its friends.
Denying that President Bush in his State of the Union message threatened these countries with war, Secretary of State Colin Powell said, "We reserve the right to do whatever is necessary to protect ourselves and our friends and allies. As the president also said in that speech, he will be consulting with our friends and allies as we move forward."
Iran, he said, has been supporting the Hezbollah and other terrorist organisations. He didn't think that was much in dispute. What the US is trying to tell these three countries, he said, is that they should not be developing weapons of mass destruction and supporting terrorism.
They should be using their resources to improve their countries. In the case of North Korea, it should be using its resources to feed the starving population, which the US is now doing, and not investing its treasure in missiles. Instead of doing that, North Korea, he said, is trying to improve its missiles for export. That is a dangerous problem.
He reiterated his demand that Iraq should allow UN inspectors back in. Powell, who was appearing on CBS-TV, said he has no information that Iran has been actually helping the Al Qaeda and Taliban to escape into Iran.
When the interviewer said Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says they were helping them, Powell said, "Don is closer to these (developments) than I am."
When the interviewer pointed out that Russia disagrees with the US on Iran, Powell said that the US disagrees with the Russians on that issue.
He charged that Iran's Revolutionary Guard elements 'are trying to gain undue influence in western Afghanistan and taking other actions that we do not find satisfactory'.
He acknowledged that there is in Iran a tussle between moderates and fundamentalists. Powell welcomed Yasser Arafat's condemnation of terrorism and violence in an article in The New York Times, but said Arafat has to do a lot more to get the violence under control.
He has to take action. Powell confirmed that Prime Minister Sharon has met with a number of Palestinians the other day and 'I will be meeting with them as well in the days ahead'.
"We cannot walk away from the current crisis in the Middle East," Powell said.
"We have to get back on track for a ceasefire and go forward with the Mitchell Plan for negotiations with the Palestinians and Israelis and we want to find a solution so that these two peoples can live side by side in peace," he said.
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