15 January 2005	Saturday	04 Zilhaj 1425

WASHINGTON, Jan 14: US Secretary of State Colin Powell has publicly acknowledged that he had differences with the first Bush team and defended his disagreements with his colleagues by saying that he was not paid "to be in consensus".

Mr Powell, who will quit the government soon after the inauguration of the second Bush team on Jan 20, has become very open and candid in speaking about these differences as his departure comes closer.

In an interview to CNN, released by the State Department on Friday, Mr Powell confirmed media speculations that he was not happy with the evidence the CIA had provided him about the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

"Now, the issue of weapons of mass destruction is one that we really have to look into. Why did the intelligence community get it wrong," he wondered. "Where we went wrong, and where the international intelligence community went wrong, is in believing that there were still stockpiles of such weapons. We haven't found them, they're not there, and we've got to take a second look at why we thought they were there," he added.

As secretary of state, Mr Powell had to go to the UN Security Council with the information the CIA provided him and argue that America would be justified to invade Iraq because Saddam Hussein had stockpiled weapons of mass destruction. On Wednesday, the White House announced that it was calling back a US team looking for WMDs in Iraq because they had failed to find any such weapon.

DISCORD WITH RUMSFELD: In another interview, also released by the State Department, Mr Powell was asked directly to comment on media reports that he often disagreed with Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. He did not deny that he had disagreements with Mr. Rumsfeld or some other colleagues, but said such disagreements were not unusual.

He said "more often than not," he was in agreement with his colleagues but sometimes he disagreed with them. "But that's what I am supposed to do. I'm not paid to be in consensus," said Mr Powell.

Such disagreements, he said, did not affect his relationship with President Bush. "It is a good relationship. It's been very strong all along." Mr Powell said once he leaves the State Department he plans to "make some speeches and do some other things that will keep me somewhat in the public eye".

Asked if he can envision a public life again, Mr Powell said: "I can always envision public life, not necessarily in government, but I expect that I will be doing something in public life. And we'll just have to wait and see what that's going to be."