Powell Denies U.S. Preparing for Conflict with Iran
"DEAD SEA, Jordan (Reuters) - Secretary of State Colin Powell on Sunday dismissed as "absolutely wrong" any suggestion that the United States was preparing to attack Iran.
The United States accuses Iran of seeking nuclear weapons, supporting "terrorist organizations," and meddling in the affairs of neighboring Iraq, where U.S.-led troops have the toppled the government of president Saddam Hussein.
Conservatives inside and outside the Bush administration have called for the United States to take a harder line toward Iran, which President Bush last year included in an "axis of evil" with North Korea and Iraq....
"We encourage the demonstrations not as a way of fomenting trouble but to say, people should be free to speak out," Powell said...."