A "war" Breaks Out Between US Department Of State And The Pentagon Over Counterterrorism Operation

Military operations of the USA have not yet started, while a real "war" has already broken out between the US Department of State and the Pentagon concerning the strategy and tactics of the coming anti-terrorism operation. This was stated on Wednesday in the newspaper Washington Post by senior expert of the Carnegie Foundation, Robert Kagan. According to him, a cruel war has broken out, in which prisoners are not taken, between US Secretary of State Colin Powell and first deputy head of the Pentagon Paul Wolfowitz. The US Deputy Secretary of Defence insists on broad and energetic actions by the USA conducting armed operations in Afghanistan against the Taliban and in the Persian Gulf against Saddam Hussain. The chief American diplomat stands for concentrating main efforts on the creation of an international coalition for combating terrorism and on cooperation, with this aim in view, with Iran, Syria and even with the Taliban. While intensive debates about the further actions are going on inside the US administration, the American mass media have focused their attention on the confrontation between the two key figures in Washington, writes Kagan. Such leading newspapers as The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal, he reported, have supported the position of Colin Powell.