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U.S., Russia Share Strategic Goals, Partners Against Terror
Friday, October 4, 2002
By Linda D. Kozaryn
American Forces Press Service

Powell said he'll never forget Putin's response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. "He came out, and he stood with us against a common enemy," the secretary said. "He responded to President Bush's call for all of us to unite against terrorism."



[ ... ]

"Russia's new partnership with NATO and the admission of new members will strengthen the alliance's ability to meet new security threats."



WASHINGTON -- AFIS
The United States and Russia are partners in the war against terrorism and both share the strategic goal of seeing Iraq disarmed of its weapons of mass destruction, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Thursday.

Speaking at the U.S.-Russia Business Council's annual meeting, Powell highlighted the strategic partnership that President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin have established and that they plan to deepen in the years ahead. "Russia is becoming a full participant in the international system," Powell said.

"Today, across the globe, Russia and the United States are working together on issues of shared concern, rather than vying for spheres of influence," he said. "The global chessboard of the Cold War, with red pieces for Soviet communism and white pieces for the Free World has been overturned once and for all."

Recalling that as a U.S. soldier he'd spent most of his adult life preparing for war with the Soviets, Powell said he still finds himself "astonished at the reality of this new situation." As a second lieutenant all the way to serving as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he was concerned with the Fulda Gap, the most likely point of a Soviet attack on the East-West German border.

"I was kidding with someone the other day," Powell noted, "and I said, 'You know what the Fulda Gap is, don't you? It's a store that sells Levi's somewhere near the town of Fulda.'"
(More: DoD News Source)
2002 © The United States Department of Defense.

Oh, that Powell-guy breaks me up every time! He should be on the Letterman show.
;^)

Dan