US Secretary of State Colin Powell has admitted foreign policy mistakes and sought to assure the outside world that despite the US invasion of Iraq, the Bush administration's approach "is not defined by preemption."
In a broad article in Foreign Affairs magazine released by the State Department on Tuesday, the top US diplomat struck a conciliatory tone toward America's old allies in Europe, called for a broader international role for China, and expressed optimism about a peaceful resolution of the North Korean problem.
He largely sidestepped the question of Iraq, but implicitly took issue with his presumed chief rival inside the administration, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who last September dismissed the decades-old concept of military deterrence as a theory that "has been overtaken by events."
Powell, however, presents a different point of view.
"As to preemption's scope, it applies only to the undeterrable threats that come from non-state actors such as terrorist groups," he writes in the magazine's January-February issue. "It was never meant to displace deterrence, only to supplement it."
President George W. Bush's doctrine of preemption was spelled out in a strategy paper released by the White House in September 2002, one year after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.
To the consternation of the outside world, the document made clear the United States would consider it justified to use force preemptively to eliminate what it sees as threats to its national security.
The invasion of Iraq undertaken last March with the stated goal of ridding the country of weapons of mass destruction that still remain unfound is seen as the first instance of the doctrine's practical implementation.
But in his article, Powell argued that "our strategy is not defined by preemption."
"Above all, the president's strategy is one of partnerships that strongly affirms the vital role of NATO and other US alliances - including the UN," he wrote.
Moreover, the secretary of state admitted to unspecified mistakes committed during President Bush's first three years in office.
"It would be churlish to claim that the Bush administration's foreign policy has been error-free from the start," he pointed out. "We are human beings; we all make mistakes."
Powell downplayed the importance of disagreements between the United States, France and Germany over Iraq, describing them as "differences among friends" bound by a partnership "that is based so firmly on common interests and values that neither feuding personalities nor occasional divergent perceptions can derail it."
He underscored the importance of parallel improvement of US relations with India and Pakistan and the need to turn it "into a triangle of conflict resolution."
The two South Asian nations are locked in a decades-long dispute over Kashmir and have fought two out of their three wars over the Himalayan region.
Powell welcomed improved relations between the United States and China, pointing out they were the best they have been since former US president Richard Nixon's 1972 visit to Beijing.
"Indeed, we welcome a global role for China, so long as China assumes responsibilities commensurate with that role," he wrote.
He praised Sino-US cooperation in trying to halt North Korea's nuclear program, but noted that the international partners "still have a long way to go" to achieve success in that area.
However, the secretary of state expressed confidence that "a diplomatic solution to the problem can be achieved."
While noting overall progress toward a peaceful settlement in the Middle East, Powell reiterated his criticism of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, calling him "an obstacle" to peace.
"One way or another, we are bound eventually to get past this problem," he stressed without elaborating.
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