US: Bush administration rivalry has led to stalemate in key foreign policy areas, writes Conor O'Clery in New York
As US Secretary of State Mr Colin Powell struggles in vain to get a new Iraq resolution at the UN, and as the toll in American and Iraqi lives grows daily higher, a picture is emerging in Washington of indecision and bureaucratic infighting that is bedevilling foreign policy.
After reports last week that the influence of Mr Donald Rumsfeld was declining over Pentagon blunders, national security adviser Ms Condoleezza Rice is also coming under harsh scrutiny from critics, including a State Department official who was quoted as saying her operation had become "dysfunctional".
The evidence for the waning of the Defence Secretary's star was the formation by President Bush last week of an inter-agency Iraq Stabilisation Group headed by Ms Rice to co-ordinate policy in Iraq, until now largely in the hands of Mr Rumsfeld.
The Defence Secretary admitted with visible irritation that Mr Bush had not discussed the decision with him beforehand, lending weight to gleeful leaks from some State Department officials that Mr Rumsfeld was at last being reined in.
"You have to view this as just taking Rumsfeld down a notch," said Brookings Institution defence analyst Mr Michael O'Hanlon. "It certainly reflects a little bit less confidence in Rumsfeld."
The president's move came as criticism reached a new pitch in Congress over the human and financial costs of post-war Iraq. With approval for Mr Bush's management of Iraq policy falling to below 50 per cent, and a presidential election only a year away, it was inevitable that Mr Rumsfeld should be seen as a political liability, observers in Washington say.
The Defence Secretary remains a powerful figure in the administration nevertheless, as he still retains primary responsibility for Iraq policy, along with its other two main architects, Mr Bush and Vice President Mr Dick Cheney.
The trio united in the last week to fight the war on the home front, lashing out at critics of the administration, with Mr Rumsfeld blaming the media for emphasising the negative aspects of the picture coming out of Iraq. Mr Powell did not take part in the administration counter-offensive.
The task of national security adviser has been made more complicated for Ms Rice by the fact that, uniquely in the Bush administration, the vice president has a powerful influence over policy-making.
However both neo-conservative hawks and mainstream Republican foreign-policy realists blame Ms Rice's office for many of the administration's foreign policy headaches, according to the Washington Post yesterday, citing interviews with dozens of senior officials over several weeks.
Her fundamental problem is managing the sharply different world views of Mr Rumsfeld and Mr Powell, who represent the ideological divide in the administration, the Post concluded.
While close to the president, she has not herself been given the executive management of specific foreign policy issues, in contrast to her predecessors under President Clinton. Mr Bush has instead given control of some key issues to powerful cabinet members.
The Post cited several officials as saying that Ms Rice was weak at forging decisions for presentation to the president, and at finding a way to resolve incompatible approaches that later failed. She also did not make sure the president's wishes were carried out.
One former official was quoted as saying Ms Rice would never discipline Mr Rumsfeld when he undercut decisions that had been made - such as flying Iraqi exile leader Ahmed Chalabi into Iraq against Mr Bush's better judgment.
The bureaucratic infighting has led to policy stalemate in other areas, such as North Korea, where Mr Powell favours engagement and Mr Cheney and Mr Rumsfeld prefer destabilising the communist regime with a view to its fall.
Similarly the Bush administration appears to have disengaged from the Middle East peace process, and Mr Bush will be reluctant to criticise Israel as election year approaches.
The administration has also shown indecision over whether to engage Iran, strategically situated between Iraq and Afghanistan, on issues of joint security concern or to side with pro-democracy elements in Tehran.
Meanwhile Mr Powell spoke by telephone with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov on Saturday about a proposed US resolution on Iraq, but his efforts have been met with some scepticism at the UN. Mr Powell said that American officials "have some ideas" for accommodating concerns raised by Security Council members over the latest US draft.
"We are trying to listen, take into account what we are hearing, and bring the community back together around the resolution," Mr Powell said.
