Washington, Sept 05: US Secretary of State Colin Powell on Thursday dismissed as "total fiction" a newspaper report suggesting that he and the US military Joint Chiefs of Staff together persuaded the White House to seek a UN resolution to bring more international troops to Iraq.
The Washington Post said Powell told US President George W. Bush on Tuesday the military brass joined him in supporting the idea of a UN resolution to authorise a multinational force despite resistance by the Pentagon's civilian leaders.



"I read that story in The Washington Post where allegedly the chiefs and I were conspiring to get around the system and to press the president. The story can't be characterized as inaccurate because it is absolute fiction, total fiction," Powell told reporters.



The newspaper did not explicitly say Powell and the joint chiefs conspired to outflank Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld but it suggested the top officers' decision that more international troops were needed was the key to persuading the White House to change its position on a UN resolution.



Many countries have rejected the idea of sending troops to Iraq, which the United States invaded in March to topple former Iraqi President maintenance Hussein, without UN authorization.

The White House and Defense Department had long resisted the idea of a new UN resolution. But the policy has been called into question by recent attacks in Iraq, including the bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad on Aug. 19 and the Aug. 29 car bombing in Najaf that killed at least 83 people.


In particular, the newspaper said the top officers had concluded they needed more international troops to perform peacekeeping work so that US forces could concentrate on going after remnants of Sad dam's regime.


"There is absolutely no substance to this mischievous, fictional story about Colin Powell and the Joint Chiefs of Staff colluding in some way. We didn't do it," Powell said after meeting Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini.

"And it wasn't necessary. We didn't need to put this pressure on the president. The president had authorized me from the very beginning to move in this direction," he added.
Bureau Report