WASHINGTON (REUTERS) — Secretary of State Colin Powell said Tuesday France would suffer consequences for having opposed the United States over the war with Iraq.
Speaking to the Charlie Rose Show television program, Powell said the United States had to review its relationship with France following its promise to veto any U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing war against Iraq.
The United States subsequently invaded Iraq and toppled Saddam Hussein, whom Washington accused of pursuing weapons of mass destruction, despite the opposition of France, Russia, Germany and other nations.
“It’s over, and we have to take a look at the relationship. We have to look at all aspects of our relationship with France in light of this,” Powell said, according to a transcript of the interview provided by the State Department.
Asked if there were consequences for having stood up to the United States, Powell replied “yes” but did not elaborate.
Earlier, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher suggested the disagreement would have an effect on U.S. ties with other nations, but he declined to be specific.
“We have made clear that there are opportunities to work with allies in the reconstruction of Iraq and bringing a better life for the Iraqi people. There are opportunities to work with allies on other issues, but that also the recent events and disagreements will have an effect on our views and our relationships,” Boucher told reporters.
In other news, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Tuesday the United States would not be intimidated by North Korea’s possession of nuclear weapons and could “do whatever might be required” to face such a threat.
Powell made the remark in a television interview as U.S. officials prepared to sit down with North Korean and Chinese officials in Beijing for talks on addressing North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.
The United States, which believes the secretive communist nation may already have enough plutonium to make one or two atomic bombs, hopes the talks may be a first step in persuading Pyongyang to give up its suspected nuclear-weapons programs.
North Korea wants security guarantees from the United States, something Powell suggested would not be on the table in Beijing.
Speaking to the Charlie Rose Show, Powell rejected the idea that North Korea may have concluded that it could forestall a U.S. attack by acquiring nuclear weapons.
“The reason it’s the wrong lesson is that the United States has such economic, political, diplomatic and military power that we are not going to be intimidated by a small number of nuclear weapons held by a particular regime,” Powell said, according to a State Department transcript of the interview.
Asked if the United States might be intimidated by the possibility North Korea might use a nuclear weapon on South Korea, Powell said: “I don’t know what they might or might not do, but the one thing they won’t do is intimidate us. And we’re going to make that very clear in these discussions.
“And it should dawn on them that they can have plutonium programs and they can have enriched uranium programs, and not one of those programs feeds one North Korean child,” he added. “There is no future in sitting there on a stockpile of nuclear weapons that we can contain or we can deter or we can do whatever might be required.”
The United States has repeatedly said it has no intention of attacking North Korea, and Powell said President Bush “believes strongly there is a diplomatic way to resolve this.”
In contrast, Bush chose to invade Iraq and topple Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, whom he accused of possessing chemical and biological weapons and of pursuing nuclear weapons. Unlike North Korea, Iraq was not believed by U.S. officials to possess nuclear weapons.
Asked if the United States may give North Korea security guarantees, Powell replied: “There is a diplomatic way to resolve this crisis. And in this first set of meetings, nothing is being put on the table.”
U.S. officials said in October North Korea had admitted it was pursuing a uranium-enrichment program with an aim of developing nuclear weapons, kicking off a six-month stalemate.
Both sides appeared to take the first steps toward resolving the issue earlier this month, when Pyongyang dropped its demand for bilateral talks with Washington, and the United States agreed to take part in the three-way Beijing talks.
Asked if he was convinced that North Korea, which is beset by food and energy shortages, may be more interested in feeding its people than in nuclear weapons, Powell replied: “No, I think they are more interested in the preservation of the regime and their security, the security of the regime.”