Powell Will Pass Baton To Rice

Secretary of State Colin Powell, the retired four-star general who often clashed with more hawkish members of the administration on Iraq and other foreign policy issues, resigned in a Cabinet exodus that promises a starkly different look to President Bush's second-term team.

"I assure you, I'll be working hard until the very, very end," he told reporters at the State Department, adding that he and Mr. Bush came to a "mutual agreement" that it was time for him to resign.

Chief White House Correspondent John Roberts reports that Mr. Bush has asked National Security adviser Condoleezza Rice to succeed Powell. An announcement is expected on Tuesday.

A senior administration official says Steve Hadley, deputy national security adviser, will become Mr. Bush's new national security adviser.

Three other Bush Cabinet members – Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman, Education Secretary Rod Paige and Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham – have also submitted their resignations, the White House confirmed Monday.

With the resignations earlier of Attorney General John Ashcroft and Commerce Secretary Donald Evans, at least six of 15 Cabinet members are leaving, a musical-chairs act that assures Mr. Bush a significant Cabinet face-lift with his second inauguration over two months away.

Late Monday two more names dropped off the Bush administration roster - CIA Deputy Director for Operations Stephen Kappes and his immediate deputy, Michael Sulick.

Both men were part of the CIA's Directorate of Operations, or clandestine service, which is responsible for covert operations around the globe.

The resignations follow confrontations with the agency's new leadership and it's not clear if the two are leaving voluntarily or were asked to step aside.

Powell's departure comes as no surprise, reports CBS News Correspondent Mark Knoller. Since August of last year, there's been very public speculation that he would not serve beyond a first term.

The leading candidate to replace Paige as education secretary, meanwhile, is Margaret Spellings, Mr. Bush's domestic policy adviser who helped shape his school agenda when he was the Texas governor.

Paige, 71, the nation's seventh education secretary, is the first black person to serve in the job. He grew up in segregated Mississippi and built a career on a belief that education equalizes opportunity, moving from college dean and school superintendent to education chief.

Veneman, 55, was the nation's first woman agriculture secretary. Speculation on a potential replacement has centered on Chuck Conner, White House farm adviser, Democratic Rep. Charles Stenholm of Texas, who lost his seat in the Nov. 2 elections, Allen Johnson, the chief U.S. negotiator on agricultural issues and Bill Hawks, undersecretary for marketing and regulatory programs.

Abraham, 52, a former senator from Michigan, joined the administration after he lost a bid for re-election, becoming the nation's 10th energy secretary. He struggled in an attempt to get Congress to endorse the Bush administration's broad energy agenda and was unable to convince Congress to enact energy legislation.

Powell, who often butted heads with fellow members of Mr. Bush's foreign policy team, said he never intended to serve beyond a first term.

"We came to the mutual agreement that it would be appropriate for me to leave at this time," he said. Powell dismissed reports that he had offered to stay longer.

"I made no offer. We had pretty much come to our mutual agreement without anybody having to make any offers, counteroffers or anything like that," Powell said. "We knew where we were heading."

In his resignation letter to the president, Powell wrote, "I believe that now that the election is over, the time has come for me to step down."

He added, "I am pleased to have been part of a team that launched the global war against terror, liberated the Afghan and Iraqi people."

Powell, 67, has been widely viewed as the moderate in an administration dominated by hawks. But like the soldier he was for more than 30 years, Powell always fell in line once the president made up his mind.

Powell will probably be best remembered for the speech he gave to U.N. Security Council on Feb. 5, 2003 in which he made the case for use of force against Iraq's Saddam Hussein.

He said Saddam was continuing to develop weapons of mass destruction despite 12 years of U.N. disarmament demands. His claims about the Iraqi weaponry were never borne out but Powell never wavered, at least in public, that Saddam's removal was justified.

Both at home and abroad, Powell has been far more popular than the policies he defended. His public approval ratings among Americans have been extraordinarily high and Powell was always welcomed warmly on his many travels abroad.

But his tenure coincided with a sharp rise in anti-Americanism abroad, the result mostly of U.S. policies in Iraq. He is widely perceived to have had repeated run-ins with Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

He even sparred with Mr. Bush. The largest disagreement between the men was over beginning the Iraq war. Powell didn't oppose use of force, but he warned the president invading Iraq would "suck the oxygen out" of everything else he hoped to accomplish in his first term, according to CBS New correspondent David Martin.

Martin reports that Powell's aides say, despite differences on Iraq, Powell won more battles than he lost. However, aides say, regardless of outcome, it was always a fight for Powell, and that's what he got sick of.

With the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, Powell's main task as America's chief diplomat became to rally support for a global war on terrorism. Much of what he has done in the ensuing three years flowed from the events of that day.

It was concern over a potential "nexus" between Saddam and al Qaeda and affiliate groups that propelled Mr. Bush to wage war on Iraq, along with the administration's claim that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction and was preparing to use them. Neither claim was ever confirmed.

Facing charges that the United States was a "go-it-alone" superpower, Powell countered that the United States has vigorously pursued a multilateral approach in Iran and North Korea in hopes of negotiating an end to nuclear weapons threats in both countries.

Powell's tenure has yielded little in resolving the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians — but he is hopeful that the death of Yasser Arafat last week could lead to a diplomatic opening.

The secretary seems proud of the role the United States has played in Afghanistan, where successful presidential elections were held last month - a development that seemed fanciful for a country that three years ago was an Islamic state working in league with al Qaeda and other jihadists.

Powell rejected suggested suggestions that he was part of a "militaristic" administration. He repeatedly cited major increases proposed by Mr. Bush in foreign assistance and in the worldwide struggle against HIV/AIDS as evidence of the administration's humanitarian character.