Powell named as US secretary of state

TEXAS - President-elect George W. Bush has named his first Cabinet member, choosing "an American hero, an American example and a great American story," retired General Colin Powell.

"Today it is my privilege to ask (Powell) to become the 65th secretary of state of the United States of America," Bush said yesterday, announcing the first appointment of his Cabinet at a school in Crawford, Texas, close to his ranch.

Powell, 63, becomes the first African American to hold the nation's top diplomatic job.

Bush said Powell had been an adviser to the last three U.S. presidents, "providing good counsel, strong leadership and an example of integrity for every one for whom he serves."

In an emotional ceremony, in which both men had tears in their eyes during Bush's glowing introduction, the president-elect said: "I know of no better person to be the face and voice of American diplomacy than Colin L. Powell."

Powell is known internationally after overseeing the U.S. military during the Gulf War and, earlier, serving as national security adviser to President Ronald Reagan.

Bush, whose victory over Democrat Al Gore in the Nov. 7 election was only finalised on Tuesday after protracted legal disputes, will be inaugurated on Jan. 20.

He pledged to work for reconciliation after his win in the disputed vote in Florida prompted charges from many blacks that they had been disenfranchised.

Powell, in a speech accepting the nomination, expressed optimism that the country would pull together. "We'll get over these difficulties that we have seen in recent days," he said.

Bush used the occasion to set out some of the principles he will follow in his foreign policy, based on promoting American values and democracy around the world.

"We will promote a fully democratic Western Hemisphere bound together by free trade ... and advance peace in the Middle East based, as any lasting peace must be, on a secure Israel," he said.

Powell agreed that working for Middle East peace would remain a major priority, saying: "It is absolutely a given that under a Bush administration America will remain very much engaged in the Middle East."

Like other Cabinet nominees, Powell will have to be confirmed in the US Senate. While the Senate is evenly split between Democrats and Republicans, he is expected to receive bipartisan support to assume the post.

Bush said Gen. Powell, son of immigrants who grew up in a poor part of New York, was "an American Hero, an American example, and a great American story."

He added: "It is a great day when a son of the South Bronx succeeds to the office first held by Thomas Jefferson," one of the U.S. founding fathers.

Powell's nomination has been an open secret for months as Bush dropped broad hints during his campaign for the White House and the charismatic 63-year-old Republican African American visited the Texas governor at his secluded ranch.

The announcement was made in the elementary school gymnasium in the tiny town of Crawford near "Prairie Chapel," Bush's 1,600-acre (647 hectare) ranch with some 300 people, about half the town's population, in attendance.

Bush left the governor's mansion in Austin early yesterday to make the two-hour drive to Prairie Chapel, where he and Powell met privately before going before the TV cameras.

Vice President-elect Dick Cheney, defence secretary under George W. Bush's father, President George Bush, during the Gulf War, attended the ceremony.

Powell is certain to be a popular choice, given that he is one of the most admired figures in America and epitomises Bush's avowed intent to assemble a diverse Cabinet.

After Bush's protracted post-election legal battle with Democrat Al Gore for the White House, the time for assembling an administration, a White House staff and a Cabinet before he is sworn in on Jan. 20 has been cut in half.

"Over the course of the next couple of weeks, we hope to get most of them named," Bush told reporters Friday.

He added that he had "assembled a White House staff that is a group of extraordinary Americans who have agreed to serve the country."

Sunday, immediately before leaving for Washington, Bush was expected to add another African American, trusted advisor and close friend to his inner Washington circle by announcing Condoleezza Rice's appointment as his national security adviser, Republican sources said. In addition, he may publicly introduce some of his senior White House staff.

In Washington Monday and Tuesday, Bush will meet with congressional leaders from both parties, his former rival Gore, and President Bill Clinton. He will also interview prospective Cabinet members before returning to Austin Tuesday night.

Bush, whose first official act as president-elect was to meet with Democratic Senator John Breaux of Louisiana in the interest of healing the divisions highlighted after the presidential election, has hinted that he will have Democrats in his Cabinet.

One likely prospect was former Senator Bennett Johnston of Louisiana, a close friend of Breaux's who could be a candidate for Energy Secretary.

"There is a tradition of bipartisanship in the Cabinet. It's a healthy tradition," said transition spokesman Ari Fleischer. "What's important is the people that the president-elect selects for the Cabinet will be people who will work in a bipartisan way" to implement his agenda."

- REUTERS

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