Powell: Turks are in serious conversation with us

Secretary of State Colin Powell said to the ABC on Sunday. He said, "I can’t tell you when the resolution will be passed, I’m anxious to move quickly. I can’t say whether the resolution will generate more troops support in a timely matter."

Powel added: "Our friends at the Security Council are waiting to see what the resolution looks like, they have not yet made commitment, the Turks are in serious conversations with us, we have had conversations with President Musharraf in New York this week and he still has it under consideration; Bangladesh in another nation that has it under consideration, the South Koreans have also expressed their interest in the idea. So there are some nations around."

Powell added: "I would not suggest that we’re gonna get a huge number of troops. There aren’t that many countries around with standing armies that are able to dispatch large formations around the world. We have to be prepared to use our reserves," Powell added.

Asked about a third international division of 10,000-15,000 troops, Powell said, "That’s a possibility, but I can’t tell you we’re going to be able to achieve that." He said the United States had to be prepared to use its reserves.

Powell renewed his support for President George W Bush’s justification for invading Iraq in March. "The president went in and conducted this war because, and I still believe, there were weapons of mass destruction and WMD programmes. "I don’t think we have anything to be regretful about. I have no second thought about what we did."

Referring to the progress report on the hunt for Iraq’s weapons programmes to released by former weapons inspector David Kay, Powell said, "The world will see our intelligence community had to do the best they could, I think they did a pretty good job," said.