By
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration will stay on the sidelines and let Israel vote on a new government this week without input from the United States, top foreign policy advisers said yesterday.
"We will not make a judgment," Secretary of State Colin Powell said on ABC's "This Week." "We believe it's up to the Israeli people to decide who their prime minister will be, and as you've noticed so far in the Bush administration, we have elected not to show a preference."
Hard-liner Ariel Sharon is considered the front-runner in tomorrow's election over incumbent Ehud Barak, whose support has plunged over his unsuccessful peace efforts with the Palestinians and the recent violence in the region.
"This administration, as well as the rest of the world, has to be prepared to work with the Israeli prime minister, whether it is Mr. Barak or it is Mr. Sharon," Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, said on CNN's "Late Edition."
Powell said leaders in the region need to encourage peace during the election.
"Then we can see what the people of Israel indicate they wish in the form of a new leader, and then we can begin to see how we can move toward peace again," he said.
Powell said the administration will "be as active as appropriate" in the peace process.
Also, Powell and Rice echoed comments Saturday by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld in Germany to European allies that the United States is committed to pursuing a national missile defense system and is trying to alleviate concerns among those allies. But that could mean abandoning the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty with Russia, Powell said.
"At some point we will bump up against the limits of the ABM treaty," Powell said. "At that time we will have to negotiate with the Russians what modifications might be appropriate, and we have to hold out the possibility that it may be necessary to leave that treaty if it is no longer serving our purposes."
Rice said the world has changed since the treaty was signed.
"It is a very different environment," she said. "Russia is no longer our hostile adversary."
Earlier yesterday, a top Russian security official warned the Bush administration that the planned missile defense system would trigger a new arms race that would eventually extend into space.
Speaking in Germany, Sergei Ivanov, secretary of President Vladimir Putin's powerful security council, told an international conference of defense ministers and experts that the system would by definition abolish the ABM treaty.
"And the destruction of the ABM treaty, we are quite confident, will result in the annihilation of the whole structure of strategic stability and create prerequisites for a new arms race, including one in space," he said.
Among the other foreign policy matters discussed by Powell and Rice:
- On withdrawing U.S. troops from Kosovo, Rice said Bush is opposed to a deadline and that no action will be taken without consulting allies. "I think that the allies will find that this is going to be a very consultative administration. That they're not going to be subject to surprises," she said.
Powell said the administration would like to see all of the troops withdrawn, but "that is not going to be the case in the immediate future. The question is do we need the kinds of troops that we have there now, American troops we have there now, in the numbers that are there now."
- On China, Rice said, "I think you will not see any diminution of the importance for human rights in China. In fact, I think you'll see a renewed emphasis on it." Powell said the administration has not decided if it will vote to condemn China's human rights policies when the 53-member nation U.N. Human Rights Commission meets in Geneva in March.
- On Iraq, Powell said the United States must assume President Saddam Hussein still is trying to build nuclear weapons. But asked if the United States has enough evidence to act, Powell said, "We reserve the right to use whatever means may be necessary if we had a specific set of targets of something occurred to us or we found something that we would think would be appropriate to go after."
- On Mexico, Powell said an open border "is far in the future," and illegal drugs must be dealt with. Mexican President Vicente Fox opposes the U.S. drug certification system, under which nations are judged on their cooperation in fighting drugs.
"There are some in Congress who think that perhaps there are ways to make this a less onerous issue with respect to our bilateral relationship with Mexico, and I am in discussion with members of Congress who think that might be a good idea, but at the moment it is the law of the land," Powell said.
Mexico and other nations view the certification system as an assault on their sovereignty. They also contend it is hypocritical because the United States is the leading consumer of illegal drugs.
Bush and Fox are scheduled to meet Feb. 16 in Mexico.
