Washington, June 12: Backing a senate bill to impose trade restrictions on Myanmar for its crackdown on the opposition, Secretary of State Colin Powell has said it is time to change US policy towards the country. "By attacking democratic opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters, the Burmese junta has finally and definitively rejected the efforts of the outside world to bring Burma back into the international community," Powell said in an article published in the ‘Wall Street Journal’ today.

"The attack on Suu Kyi's convoy and the utter failure of the junta to accept efforts at peaceful change," says Powell, "Cannot be the last word on the matter. The junta that oppresses democracy inside Burma must find that its actions will not be allowed to stand."
Powell said that the administration supports the goals and intent of the bipartisan bills in congress and is working with the sponsors on "an appropriate set of new steps."

Those who follow the issue, says Powell, "Will know that our support for legislation is in fact a change in the position of this administration and previous ones as well."
Bureau Report